Grek from the Republic of Benin

b.1974 - Present
Image by Joe Pollitt
Grek from the Republic of Benin
b.1974 - Present
Image by Joe Pollitt

Grek | Anagossi Gratien

Grek is an exciting young talented artist from West Africa, now living in the the Republic of Benin. Originally, from the Republic of Togo, he moved to neighbouring Benin in his teens and now works as an artist in the port of Cotonou. Previously, he has been commissioned by the French Cultural Centre in Cotonou and most recently, set-up a design group in the port of Cotonou.

His work is similar to Alberto Burni and Antoni Tapies of the Art Informel Movement of the 1950`s but I believe this is more by accident rather than design. I use the term Art Informel from the French informe, meaning unformed or formless to refer to the antigeometric, antinaturalistic, and nonfigurative formal preoccupations which is so obvious in Grek`s work, stressing his pursuit for spontaneity, looseness of form, and the irrational. His work is pushing forward new ideas of seeing and using whatever materials are closest at hand. His work is extensively about the plight of the empoverished and his inventive techniques of leaving painted canvas' in the sun for weeks on end is extremely effective and inventive. The end product is a painting that looks like it`s about to fall to pieces, which is purposefully symbolic in the way he chooses to reflect his own economic and social condition.

On the image to the left | L'Homme Malheureux or the Unhappy Man, on the left-hand corner one can just make out a part of a shirt with a corey shell falling out the pocket. When I came to ask Grek what was the significance of the shirt Grek just told me it had a previous owner; an artist in Burkina Faso; but the artists took exception to his work so in return Grek took exception to the man's shirt and now the arguement is over. His shirt now part of his work and if he thinks it's shit then maybe he should reconsider where he buys his shirts. Perfect! The corey shell is symbolic of fame and fortune and is clearly falling out the pocket.

Grek`s work leans towards the gestural and expressive, with repetitive anticompositional formats related to Abstract Expressionism. If ever there was an artist who represented African modernity it is Grek.