Lawrie Shabibi announces a “Gallery Takeover” by Gallery 1957 from Accra, Ghana. The initiative, which runs from 20 January to March, 2018, is the first of its kind in the Middle East and emulates current trends for younger galleries to develop their programmes internationally through the pooling of resources.
“Sharing our space with another gallery for a period of time is experimental. It’s exciting for us and the local audience who will be presented with something fresh” says Asmaa Al-Shabibi co-director of Lawrie Shabibi. “Next year we aim to expand this into the whole Dubai gallery community inviting other international galleries into local spaces”.
Gallery 1957 was established in 2016 in Accra and is dedicated to contemporary art with a curatorial focus on West Africa. The takeover exhibition, titled 'The Displaced', presents a solo show of new works from Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey.
“My aim for the gallery has always been to be firmly established in Accra whilst working globally with a programme that expands outside of the gallery walls focused around artists who are currently bridging the gap between local and international practices. Our public programme has encompassed talks, residencies, performances, commissioning new site-specific installations, and supporting cultural initiatives in Ghana and beyond so we are delighted to have an off-site project in Dubai for the first time in advance of our participation at Art Dubai fair.” Marwan Zakhem, Founder, Gallery 1957.
Serge Attukwei Clottey shows a new series of pastel drawings on paper, depicting disjointed figures and faces - not unlike the visions of nude women under Cubism, a European movement which drew heavily from traditional African tribal sculpture. Introducing colour, the pieces mark a departure from Clottey’s previous charcoal works. Also on display are Clottey's wall-based sculptures created from yellow gallon containers - bold assemblages that act as a means of inquiry into the languages of form and abstraction. Alongside these sculptures and drawings, Clottey presents a video installation, 'The Displaced', enacting the trade and migration story of the Clottey family; together with his performance collective GoLokal, Clottey embarks on a symbolic journey of remembrance on Labadi Beach, Accra.
About Serge Attukwei Clottey
Clottey has performed and exhibited widely at solo and group shows over the past decade, including: Ibid Gallery, Los Angeles (2017); UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles (2017); Patricia Low Contemporary, Gstaad (2017); Chale Wote Street Art Festival, Jamestown, Accra, (2016); Evergreen Project, San Francisco (2016); Gallery 1957, Accra (2016); The Kampnagel, Hamburg (2015); Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing (2015); The Mistake Room, Los Angeles (2015); 27th Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille (2014); WUK, Wien (2014); Mohr-Villa, Munich (2014); Ozwald Boateng, London (2014); 11th Dak’art, Dakar (2014); Nubuke Foundation, Accra (2014); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2012); The Drum Ace Café, Birmingham (2010) and at AfriCAM, Napoli (2009). Clottey has also held artist residencies at ANO Centre for Cultural Research Accra (2015–2016) and Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna (2013).