Pascale Marthine Tayou

Exhibitions

17 November 2007 - 13 January 2008

The first solo exhibition in the UK by Pascale Marthine Tayou comprised a series of new and recent installations and an offsite work placed in the specific context of Milton Keynes. Marthine Tayou was born and raised in Cameroon and has lived in France and Belgium. His nomadic movement between places is reflected in his practice; in the materials he uses, his artistic sources and his thinking. Through his work, Marthine Tayou identifies points of economic and cultural exchange, largely between his African ancestry and the contemporaryWestern culture in which he lives and works.

The exhibition conflated traditional imagery and objects from Cameroon with the artist’s evolving interest in commerce and economic transaction. Wall Street took the form of a colossal wall-based installation of logos of companies that permeate the Cameroon landscape. The vibrant colour and placement of neon signs was at once a monument to commerce and an indictment of the homogenisation of global culture. Also featured were Marthine Tayou’s remarkable crystal sculptures. Clad in clothing and artefacts sourced from the artist’s home village, these poignant sculptures brought together the language of the Western tourist trade with traditional African imagery.