121 J. P.: I think that African art informs a lot of contemporary art, certainly on aesthetic terms. I decided a few years ago to share my interest in classical African art with my friends and with the audience that follows my gallery, as it was a real opportunity to show and explore how its traditions are linked to what I most love about Western art. Early twentieth-century artists unknowingly set forth a domino effect when they explored African forms and allowed their minds to be infl uenced by what they saw. What started with Picasso, Matisse, and the Paris School has carried through to today and continues to be a source of inspiration, if not a direct and literal infl uence. It does so because it’s entered into our subconscious, which is what artists continue to respond to. It’s something I see in the way many artists from the last ten years who I admire have tackled the human form in paintings and sculpture, and even in performance art. So I fi gured that people who enjoy the art and artists that I enjoy would also be open to looking at and engaging with classical art from Africa, and so far it’s been successful. FIG. 4 (top, left to right): Crocodile mask. Dogon, Mali. Reportedly collected by Michel Leiris. Ex Han Coray, before 1960; Galerie Témoin, Geneva. Wood, pigment. L: 61 cm. Sande Society helmet mask. Gola, Liberia See fi g. 8d. Donna Huanca, BBHMM, 2015. 84 Jade épatant crème D’eyeliner on wool. 140 x 240 cm. Photo: Andrea Rossetti. FIG. 5 (above, left to right): Mask. Baule, Côte d’Ivoire. Collected by Hans Himmelheber in the early 1930s. Ex Lore and Dr. Georg Kegel. Wood, pigment. H: 28.6 cm. Mask. Dan, Côte d’Ivoire. Ex Shériff Sidibé, Abidjan; Lionel Sergent, 2010; Valluet-de Fabry, Paris, France, 2010–2015. Wood, metal. H: 28.6 cm. Mask. Diomandé, Côte d’Ivoire. Collected by Jean Houzeau de Lehaie, April 25, 1934. Ex Raoul Blondiau, Brussels; Jacques and Denise Schwob, Brussels, 1953. Wood. H: 29 cm. Photo: Andrea Rossetti. Apartment interiors, 2015. FIG. 2 (above, left to right): Jeremy DePrez, Untitled, 2015. Acrylic on canvas. 221 x 167.6 cm. Male fi gure. Igbo, Nigeria. Ex Carlo Monzino, Castagnola. Wood, pigment. H: 180 cm. Photo: Hans-Georg Gaul. FIG. 3 (above, left to right): Merlin Carpenter, POLICE 11, 2013. Oil on linen. 137.5 x 198.5 cm. Headcrest, ogbom. Ibeku, Oloro, Olokoro, or Ngwa group, Igbo, Umuahia area, Cross River region, Nigeria. Most likely sourced by El Hadj Idrissou, Douala. Ex Alain Dufour/Galerie ex Afrique, Paris; Alain de Monbrison, Paris, 2015. Wood, metal nails, raffi a. H: 103 cm. Photo: Hans-Georg Gaul. At this point I’ve done one large exhibition combining African and contemporary art, which was called Group Spirit. I brought together a group of abstract paintings by contemporary American and European artists with seven of my Bundu helmet masks by unknown artists from the Bassa, Gola, Mende, and Vai cultures. I wanted to highlight how “secret” meaning could be expressed in both African art and in contemporary abstract painting. The various details found in the faces, coiffures, and necks of Bundu helmet masks are loaded with signifi cance that was known only to the female members of that particular Sande Society when the mask was in use. I have seen a similar pattern occurring in a lot of abstract
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