Famakan Magassa. Riez et faites rire car trop sérieux n'est pas très sérieux

Press information

Image Credits

Duration

26.12.2024 - 05.01.2025

Place

Kunsthaus Graz, Needle, Foyer

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In his large-format, intensely coloured acrylic works, Famakan Magassa combines everyday life with current socio-political issues. His works tell of the need for individual development and emotional connection, the universal desire for freedom, but also of violence, oppression and expulsion. His grotesque, somewhat gender-neutral figures are an allusion to the Kôrêdugaw, a ritual community in Mali.

Magassa’s expressive figurations are developed through texts and sketches, which he then transfers to canvases on the floor in a final step. Through the targeted use of humour and irony, he succeeds in pithily illuminating the contradictions and complexity of social structures. Personal experiences and conflicts are also reflected in his art.

Under the motto ‘Laugh and make others laugh, because too serious is not very serious’, the Kunsthaus Graz invites you to take part in a project with the artist Famakan Magassa. The project will take place over the holidays, with Magassa temporarily moving his studio to the Kunsthaus Needle. The large-format work created in this context will then be exhibited in the Kunsthaus foyer from January 22 to March 2, 2025.

Magassa currently lives and works as Artist-in-Exile in the Cerrini Schlössl at the Schloßberg in Graz, organised and promoted through the Cultural Mediation Department and the Cultural Department of the City of Graz.

FOYER exhibitions

The format of the ‘foyer exhibitions’ embodies the principle of ‘opening up’, signalling a commitment to spontaneous design and experimentation in the programme. The rounding in the entrance area is used as a flexible exhibition space that offers greater scope for reacting to current themes at short notice and for giving the local art scene a stage. As a low-threshold location, the foyer invites visitors to experience the exhibitions free of charge. This makes it easier to access art and appeals to a broad target group.