İN-DISCIPLINE #1 is an itinerant support program to creation and diffusion initiated by the Montresso* Foundation, an artist residency and art space based in Marrakesh.

For the first edition, the Montresso* Foundation invites the artist Dominique Zinkpè to select and sponsor four Beninese artists Ishola Akpo, Charly d'Almeida, Gérard Quenum and Nathanaël Vodouhé.

The program is aimed at visual artists in a first triennial phase in Africa, then in other regions of the world. IN-DISCIPLINE combines time of creation and time of exhibition under the aegis of a referent artist.

From these exchanges and artistic discussions at Jardin Rouge (the artist residency of the Montresso* Foundation), the first edition of "İN-DISCIPLINE #1" was born at the heart of the Montresso* art space during the 1: 54 Art Fair in Marrakesh.

Montresso* Art Foundation présents

- RESIDENCE MARRAKECH/COTONOUFive artists from Benin were welcomed at Jardin Rouge, artists residency of the Montresso* Art Foundation in Marrakech (November 2017 and January 2018)

İN-DISCIPLINE #1Ishola Akpo, Nathanael Vodouhè, Charly d’Almeida, Gérard Quenum, Dominique Zinkpè.Montresso* Art Space, MarrakeshFrom February, 22 to March, 31 2018Guided tour each Saturdays at 11.00 a.m. by booking only at info@montresso.com

- EXPOSITION İN-DISCIPLINE #1In the frame of the 1:54 fair, the works of Beninese artists ISHOLA AKPO (photography), NATHANAEL VODOUHÈ (sculpture and installation), CHARLY D’ALMEIDA (sculpture), GÉRARD QUENUM (painting), DOMINIQUE ZINKPÈ (painting, sculpture and installation) will be reveal in February 2018, at the Montresso* Art Space (Marrakech)

Access to press release on line

“No one doubts the cultural abundance and creative expressions of Africa. Pro-gressively, it assumes her creative explorations that it develops with serenity. Con-temporary art, its artists and their works are one of the vectors of this artistic de-velopment.

The absence of a school of fine arts in Benin is far from being a handicap for the mastery of universal plastic languages and crea-tive prowess. Our artists, in true pilgrims, do not stop making their voice resonate within all the great rendezvous celebrating art around the world.

Cotonou invites itself in Marrakech with five of its most prolix contemporary artists of their generation. Through their creations, they question our societies with con-viction, not without a touch of humor and poetry. They return the reflections of the facets of our world and our continent through plural mediums constantly renewed.

The question of self-identity and its relation to others is the cen-tral subject of Isho-la Akpo's photographic explorations. Cohorts of carved souls from Nathanael Vodouhè's hands illustrate his new concept of dependence and consumption, which testifies to the destructive and probably masochistic recurrence of man. Charly d'Almeida, investigator of the soul and matter, plunges us into his universe where metal occupies a place of honor. With confidence and dexterity, and strong beliefs, he creates all kinds of assemblies from pieces of recovered metal. The waltzes of Gérard Quenum, scenes of singular life, invented or lived, are pictorial acts with a few strokes or colored traces.

Each of us captures the world according to its filter, not without a certain indisci-pline proper to the creation.”Dominique Zinkpè, Curator of İN-DISCIPLINE #1

“The adventure of Jardin Rouge began in 2007 and allowed us to accompany a dozen of foreign and world-renowned artists. In 10 years the project has gained recognition internationally. It is now time to provoke the meeting with the artists of the continent. In 2016, the Dakar Biennial was a start. IN-DISCIPLINE structures and organizes our will to open Jardin Rouge to artists from African countries, in-cluding Morocco. This opening on the continent is ne-cessary as much as obvious. It is about discovering, knowing and accompanying more and more African artists and bringing to the international level what they have to say and show.”Jean Louis Haguenauer, Founder of Montresso*

“Building, weaving means and concrete tools so that the young ge-neration of artists in Africa can offer to the whole world all that it has to say. Because this word is powerful, accurate and necessary. Because the international art market is opening up more and more to the continent, coming to draw from it a new breath.At the heart of this network, Morocco has all the assets to position itself as the es-sential platform for the promotion of contempora-ry art in Africa. Federating space between North and South. In its heart, Marrakesh, real cultural crossroads and par excellence place of miscegenation, imposes itself to offer the world the diver-sity of new discourses emerging from the continent.”Khalid Tamer, Artistic advisor of the project

“54 countries, so many identities, beliefs, cultures and therefore artists. In its de-sire to accompany and promote the contem-porary creation, the Montresso* Foundation presents the "İN-DISCIPLINE #1" event.Diversifying and avoiding standardization is certainly the ambition of this first edition and of those that will follow. Because the world is plural, so the creation is.MARRAKECH / COTONOU - The different perspectives of five Beninese artists in residence at Jardin Rouge will mark the first edition. From these exchanges and artistic discussions will be born "İN-DISCIPLINE #1 which will be presented as part of the 1:54Art Fair in February 2018 at the Montresso* Art Space in Marrakesh.”Estelle Guilié, Artistic Director of Jardin Rouge

The ambitions of the Montresso* Art Foun-dation based in Marrakesh is to support the creation and to promote the diversity of the fields of the current artistic research.The artists residency Jardin Rouge, created by the Montresso* Foundation in 2007, has become the laboratory of this ambition and supports perennially his guests.

On the basis of this experience, the Montresso* Foundation inaugurates a new space dedicated to contemporary art – the Montresso* Art Space. The Foundation wish to actively participate to the artis-tic growth of Marrakesh, by fostering the meetings bet-ween pictural, graphic and intellectual different approaches.

To support the artists we believe in, the Montresso* Foundation also co-produces, supports exhibitions and participates to international events outside his walls (Bien-nales, Festivals, Fairs, …).

1 olive grove, 11HA, 7 studios,8 exhibitions since 2016 in the Montresso* Art Space, 54 artists were promoted since 2009, 17 presentations of ending residency, 15 events outside the walls (Dakar Biennale 2016, Marrakesh Biennale 2016, Museum Mohammed VI 2017, AKAA Fair 2017, 1:54 Fair 2018 …)

Ishola Akpo is a photographer and multimedia artist from Benin. He explores the possibilities of digital art by mixing different the-matics, and creates several levels of interpretation resulting in complex metaphors. The multi-layered images, blurring the lines between fiction and reality are characteristic of his work.

In the photographic series "Daïbi" on the Nago hunters of the region of Savè (Be-nin) he staged the imaginary god Daïbi who brings to-gether the four natural ele-ments: water, fire, air and earth. The ex-ploration of cultural practices reveals his desire to reconnect with his origins and poses in the same movement a set of re-flections on multiple identity. In residence at Jardin Rouge, Ishola Akpo carries out a work in continuity with the "Daïbi" series. For Ishola Akpo, photography repre-sents a "means of experimenting oneself and the world".

Ishola Akpo was born in 1983, he lives and works in Cotonou.

2017 - Prix Orisha pour l’art contemporain,Galerie l’Appartement, Paris, France- Chaos-monde!, Le centre, lobozounkpa, Bénin- IyEye of Benin, Comparing views on rituals, Venise, Italie- Passant souviens-toi dit soeurette, Place des martyrs Cotonou, Bénin

2016 - Rituals and performance: inherent risk, Lagosphoto festival, Nigéria- Africa Pop, Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, France

2015- Africa Contemporanea Atraès Do olhar de seus artistas, Aquiafrica, Sao Paolo, Brésil- Encontre de Brasil E Africa Contemporanea, Festival afreaka, Sao Paolo, Brésil- Museum Night Fever, Wiels Centre d’Art Contemporain, Bruxelles

2014 - Exposition personnelle "Pas de flash s’il vous plaît!", Institut Français, Cotonou, Bénin- Festival Internacional de Fotografia de Cabo Verde- Fenêtres sur le monde, Port-au-Prince by night, Haïti- [Working title], Goodman Gallery Cape town, South Africa- Bois sacré, Biennale Dak’art Off, Saint-Louis, Dakar- Sunday’s Screening#10, Galerie Polaris carte blanche Galerie Cécile Fakhoury

2013 - Festival des nouveaux cinémas documen-taires#3, France- Périféeriques#2, Festival des formes et des rythmes du monde , Dakar Sénégal- International Young and Upcoming Photography, Salon photo Off, Bellevilloise, Paris- Global Change Personal Stories, 11th International Photo Festival, Alep, Syrie- Cinéma de l’utopia, Festival de Photographie de Toulouse, France

2012- Exposition personnelle "Les redresseurs de calavi", Campus de l’université d’Abomey Calavi, Bénin

2011 - 6ème Forum Transculturel d’art contemporain AfricAmericA, Haïti- Bas les Masques, Art contemporain africain, France- Climate Change in Africa: Artists Speak and Connect, Cape town, Afrique du sud

2010 - Espace Deen-Gui, Biennale Dak’art Off, Sénégal, Dakar

2009 - Marasa – Bédji, Installation Vidéo avec Mak-saens Denis, Institut français, Dakar

2008 - Terres et migrances, 5ème Forum Transculturel d’art contemporain AfricAmericA, Haïti

PRIX

2015 - Lauréat résidence Photoquai, Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac

2013 - Lauréat visa pour la création, Institut français, Paris

2012 - Lauréats Prix Bénincultures, Bénin- Freelens du webdoc, Festival de Photographie de Toulouse, France

2011 - Lauréat Heinrich Böll Foundation, Afrique du sud

ISHOLA AKPOAutoportrait90 x 120 cmImpression numérique sur diasec2017

Both painter and sculptor, he educated himself through books and with his elders. He has created thanks to his experiments a singular writing. Sharp-witted, with a steady han Nathanael Vodouhè sere-nely leads us into his universe, making perceptible his inner paths. This dreamlike atmosphere reveals a pronounced interiority and reveals, as the artist tells us, "what the eyes can not see". Unless this is a whispered spirituality. Probably a bit of both.

Nathanael Vodouhè explores. His drawings and canvases cover the hidden faces of beings, mixing body fragments associated with a silky material, cocoons. His sculptures and installations question the games of power between beings. His performances challenge the absurdity of situations that result from the exploitation of men by men.

Nathanael Vodouhè was born in 1986 in Abomey, he lives and works in Cotonou.

EXPOSITIONS COLLECTIVES

2017 - Exposition à la galerie Vallois, France

2016 - Exposition collective à la Galerie Guèlèdè

2015- Exposition personnelle "Réciprocité" à l’Ecole des beaux-arts de Dijon, France - Exposition collective, Nice, France - Exposition collective uniformes des filles à l’institut français - Exposition collective les 3 Dimensions au centre Vallois, Bénin

2014 - Exposition personnelle à l’nstitut français Cotonou, Benin - Performance a la 4ème édition du Festival Africain d’image virtuelle Artistiques (FAIVA) Bamako, Sikasso, Ségou, Mali- Exposition collective et performance, SAHM Congo, Brazzaville- Exposition collective, Nice, France- Exposition collective et performance Kin Art Studio à Kinshasa en République Démocratique du Congo

2013 - Génération intense, Unik-lieu de création contemporaine, Maison Rouge, Cotonou, Bénin.

2012- Exposition de la Biennale Regard Benin 2012 du projet spécial "Densité génération Nouvelle", Centre d’art contemporain UNIK Abomey - Exposition du projet spéciale de la Biennale, "La Débrouille" atelier de peinture pour les aveugles. Apparitions, Galerie ABC, Cotonou, Bénin.

2011 - GbaviNoukpinnon, One Minute Vidéo – Unik lieu de création Contemporaine, Cotonou, Bénin

2010 - Exposition collective à l’Institut français de Cotonou "Regain Control" avec Joël Brisse - "Rêver à Cotonou" de Philippe Adrien, l’Institut français de Cotonou Benin.

2009 - Marasa – Bédji, Installation Vidéo avec Maksaens Denis, Institut français, Dakar

2008 - Terres et migrances, 5ème Forum Transculturel d’art contemporain AfricAmericA, Haïti

PRIX

2014 - Prix du meilleur artiste invité à la Rencontre internationale des arts visuels de l’atelier SAHM, Congo, Brazzaville

2013 - Grand Prix de créativité en peinture de la 8ème rencontre international des jeunes artistes plasticiens du Benin

2012 - Vainqueur de la 7ème édition de Compétition nationale des Arts CONAASCO - Prix de la 2 éme rencontre international des arts; Cotonou, Benin

NATHANAËL VODOUHÈSérie Ladies & GentlemanTechnique mixte sur bois brûlé2017

"Charly d'Almeida was born in 1968 in Cotonou, Benin. He is part of this generation of artists who opened the way to contemporary art in Benin.

His work is a reflection of this humanist approach. At first, it is dee-ply marked by the African culture to which he is very attached and whose signs he still seeks to translate, which are of course governed by Voodoo: "In Benin, Vodou is more than a religion it's a culture, a tradition. Benin is divided into two categories, Catho-lics and Muslims, but all are animists, the Vodou is omnipresent in people's lives". But his work is also open to the world and its cur-rent issues, social, political or environmental. Charly d'Almeida has been painting since 1988 and began sculpting in the 2000s.

Recovered metal is today its privileged means of expression and the revealer of a work in contrasts. From perishable and outdated objects, scum of our consumer society, the artist build timeless sculptures designed to defy time. In his hands, utility metal is trans-formed into a medium of contemplation and reflection; heavy and cumbersome, it nevertheless gives rise to works tending towards abstraction, symbolism and conceptualism, whose ethereal titles are charged with mysticism: "Crossing", "Silhouette", "Perfection", "Double sense", "Sacred Word" ...

From the cold and hard material, the artist gives rise to emotion. It is a sign that for Charly d’Almeida art is "a way to repair the wounds of time, people or events".

Camille Bloc

2017 - "Mix(cités)", Galerie GVCC, Casablanca, Maroc- "Signes de Pouvoir", Galerie Louise Simone Guirandou, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

2016 - Exposition à la BRVM, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire- "What’s going on ?", Maison Cotonou, Bénin- AKAA (Also Known As Africa 2016), Paris, France- "The Talisman", EBANO Gallery, Milan, Italie - Musée de Tanley, France- RIPO, Rencontre International de Peinture à Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso- "Ségou’ Art 2016", Centre culturel Koré, Ségou, Mali

2015- "Capitalisme mon chérie", Le centre Vallois, Cotonou, Bénin - Exposition collective, Institut Français de Cotonou, Bénin

2014 - "Bois sacrés", Biennale Dak’Art OFF, Dakar, Sénégal

2013 - "sculpteurS béninoiS contemporainS", Galerie Vallois, Paris, France - Exposition collective, Hommage Institut Français (50 ans), Cotonou, Bénin - "Afrika Heute", Museum Der Vôlker, Schwaz, Autriche

2012- Kunst Transit Berlin, Allemagne - FIAD, Musée des Arts derniers, Paris, France

2011 - 100 artistes for a Museum CASORIA, Naples, Italie

2010 - "FON sur toile", Laboratorio, Cotonou, Bénin - 3éme festival des arts nègres, Dakar, Sénégal

2009 - Galerie Françoise Morel, Paris, France - 15éme cinéma africain Les Carmes, Orléans, France

2008 - "Le temps" Centre Culturel Français, Cotonou, Bénin- Galerie Akwab’Art, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

2007 - Drouot Richelieu, Paris, France - Galerie ARTACTUAL, Le Mans, France

2006 - Maison de la radio RFI, Paris, France - Agence Française de Développement, Paris, France - 22éme salon de la peinture (prix jeune talent), Tours, France

2005 - 100 artistes for a Museum CASORIA, Naples, Italie - Château de l’étang, Saran, France

2003 - Betty Moroth gallery, London, Royaume-Uni

2001 - Galerie Tourelle, Nanterre, France - Kunst Transit Berlin, Allemagne

2000 - Kameroen leefs, Bruxelles, Belgique - La cave Sainte-Croix, Metz, France

1999 - World Bank, Washington (DC), Etats-Unis

1998 - Galerie Hülsen, Frankfurt, Allemagne - 1er salon d’art contemporain, Ségou, Mali

CHARLY D'ALMEIDAVie commune 1175 x 70 x 18 cmSculpture assemblage métaux2017

CHARLY D'ALMEIDAL'inconscience 1100 x 180 x 18 cmSculpture assemblage métaux2017

"There are always dolls in the composition of Gérard Quenum's "bocio" , old dolls damaged, unstructured, metaphors of a suffe-ring society where the children are the first and innocent victims of the violence that it generates. Sometimes, too, they reflect Gé-rard's disillusioned and humorous gaze on this global consumer society. These dolls 'coming from Europe', abandoned, rejected by a satiated West, become images that look with irony towards their own origins, so to us, re-ferring to our contradictions and questions about the merits of our pseudo values.

When put side by side, Gerard Quenum's sculptures and paintings seem to be so different that one might think they are not the work of the same artist. And yet, they proceed from the same approach: focusing on the essential with a minimum of means. Black on a white background, sometimes two or three colors at most, cha-racters without faces or with empty eyes, evanescent silhouettes, fugitive and vulnerable like dreams. A universe that suggests ten-derness and mystery, the same tenderness and the same mystery that inhabit his "bocio" sculptures."

Gérard Quenum was born in 1971 in Porto-Novo, Benin

André Jolly, former director of the French Institute of Cotonou - 2013

EXPOSITIONS PERSONNELLES

2016- "Rêves et réalités", Galerie 23, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas

2015 - "Gérard Quenum - Peintures récentes", Galerie Roy Sfeir, Paris, France- "Gérard Quenum", Art 21 Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria

2013 - "Rupture", Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Bénin- "Regards déracinés", Galerie Christopher Gerber, Lausanne Suisse

2012- "Dolls never die", October Gallery, Londres, Royaume-Uni

2010 - "O dragão entre dois mundos", Museu Afro-Brasil, São Paulo, Brésil- "Humeur d’artiste", Résidence Virchaux, Cotonou, Benin

2009 - "Clandestins", October Gallery, Londres, Royaume-Uni

2007 - Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture, Fontainebleau, France- Résidence et exposition aux "Ateliers d’Allones", Allones, France

2004 - Expositions à Chalon-sur-Saône et Chagny, France

2000 - "Gérard Quenum", Galerie Treger, Art singulier, Rue Mazarine, Paris, France

1999 - "Gérard Quenum", Centre Culturel Français, Cotonou, Benin

1998- "Voix intérieures", Maquis Dunya, Cotonou, Benin

COLLECTIONS

The British Museum, Londres, Royaume-UniCollection Pigozzi, Genève, SuisseMuseu Afro-Brasil, São Paulo, BrésilNational Museum of Scotland, Royaume-UniGalerie Vallois, Paris, FranceEstúdio Buck, São Paulo, BrésilGaleria Bernardo Marques, Lisbonne, PortugalAfrika Museum, Berg en Dal, HollandeMuseu Nacional da Cultura Afro-Brasileira, Salvador-de-Bahia, BrésilFindation Zonsou, Cotonou, BéninOctober Gallery Londres, Royaume-Uni

GÉRARD QUENUMGravitation - diptyque120 x 120 cmAcrylique sur toile2017

Zinkpè was born in 1969 in Cotonou, Benin. Zinkpe's approach is complex and diverse. Far from confining himself to a plastic wri-ting, he appropriates all kinds of media, as long as they allow him to express himself: installation, drawing, painting, sculpture, video. When one goes through his work, it seems obvious that he does not want to lock himself into a process of creation. On the contrary, he never stops questioning himself. His art often challenges, some-times points out, also denounces.

Zinkpè's works refer to his environment and the context in which he finds himself. Zinkpè's painting explores tortuous paths where the characters, halfway between human being and animal, evoke games of power, masquerade or sex, without doubt alluding to our human comedy. His singular feature is recognizable on the canvas; intimate, powerful, provoking. As for his sculptures, they are some-times derived from coiled burlap or born from small amalgamated wooden figurines. These variations on the theme of twins, which belong to the beliefs of southern Benin, are astonishing explora-tions.

Whatever medium he appropriates, Zinkpè takes us into the maze of creation, for our greatest pleasure or perhaps ... his.

Elise Daubelcour

EXPOSITIONS PERSONNELLES - SELECTION

2017 - Exposition à la villa Arson- Zinkpè, Fondation Zinsou,Cotonou Bénin

2016 - Exposition Zinkpè, Galerie Read, Afrique du Sud - Exposition parfum d’existence, Institut français

2014 - Exposition ANIMA, Galerie In Situe, Paris france - Exposition Koton’oo Galerie ARTE Dakar, Sénégal - Exposition Spirit Mastria , Maison Rouge, Cotonou Bénin

2013 - Mystery, Alexis Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria

2012- Des tigres et des peintres, Fondation Blachère, Apt, France - Africa, Friedman & Vallois Gallery, New York - In my mind, Atelier Bayard, Nantes, France - Cérémonial, Institut français, Pointe Noire, Congo

2011 - Mewigbédji, Galerie Valois, Paris, France. - Métamorphose, Fine Art Studio, Bruxelles, Belgique.

2010 - Dessins Secrets, Fine Art Studio, Bruxelles, Belgique. - Focus Zinkpè, Regard Bénin 1.0, Laboratorio Cotonou et Musée historique d’Abomey, Bénin.

2009 - Galerie Afronova, Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud.

2007 - Passage d’immigré, Neukoëln, Berlin, Allemagne. - Un monde à part, Résidence Oladé, Cotonou, Bénin.

2006 - Exposition Go Slow, Centre Culturel Français de Cotonou, Bénin.

2005 - Installation Photo Vô Bôto, Iwalewa Haus, Bayreuth, Allemagne.

COLLECTIONS

Installation divine comédie, Fondation Donkolo Collection Roi Mohamed VI du Maroc Présidence de la République du Bénin Partage de Territoires, Collection Fondation Zinsou, Bénin/France. Taxi Bonne Arrivée, Collection Arthur Elmer, Allemagne. Taxi Marseille Algérie, Collection de la Fondation Jean Paul Blachère, France. Taxi Bamako, Collection du Musée National du Mali. Collection Chesi Gert, Autriche. Collection Ganiou Soglo, Bénin. Collection Adrien Houngbédji, Bénin. Collection Idelphonse Affogbolo, Bénin. Collection de la Présidence de la République du Bénin.

DOMINIQUE ZINKPÈMinuit - triptyque150x150 (3)Technique mixte sur toile2017

DOMINIQUE ZINKPÈTon pied mon pied215 x 40 x 32 cmSculpture assemblage bois, figurines peintes2017

Élise Lavigne - Press Relations for Montresso Art Foundation

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