Field, Road, Cloud: Art and Africa is an exploration of this wide-ranging territory through the framework of contemporary art and the extensive holdings of African art in the Des Moines Art Center permanent collections, many of which will be displayed for the first time in this exhibition. These works will be installed alongside the work of contemporary artists in an effort to spark conversations around geography, colonization, and the import/export of culture. The title of the exhibition takes inspiration from a work of art by Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar entitled Field, Road, Cloud, 1997, which is comprised of three photographic fragments of a landscape along with small diagrammatic drawings. Together the photos and drawings indirectly disclose the geographic sites and the staggering statistics of the Rwandan genocide of 1996.
Field, Road, Cloud: Art and Africa is intended to be an exhibition that exposes many of the connective tissues between the art and life of the vast continent of Africa, while highlighting the role that Africa has played in the evolution of globalized culture as we know it.
Published to coincide with the 'Field, Road, Cloud: Art and Africa' exhibition at the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, USA, February 14 to 19 April 2015.
With contributions by Jeff Fleming, Gilbert Vicario and Ed DeCarbo.
