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Paa Joe’s Elaborate Hand-Carved Ghanaian Coffins

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The Jack Bell Gallery in London are currently exhibiting a small selection of sculpted coffins by the Ghanaian artist Paa Joe. The four works on display are all iconic symbols of Ghanaian life:

The golden African eagle, fish, Air Ghana jet, and Cocoa pod are testament to the vibrancy of West African culture and the ability and imagination of the local artists.

These works blur the line between art and craft. Reflecting the ambition or the trade of the person for whom they were made they are not dead things but are instead a manifestation of and indeed an affirmation of life. The works are wholly African and are a contemporary embodiment of traditional tribal burial rituals and art practice. They link back to pre-colonial West African sculpture but also recall the pomp and extravagance of ancient Egyptian royal tombs and perhaps – in contemporary Western art practice they recall Jeff Koons. They too are kitsch, Paa Joe, like Koons, plays with scale and with a work like the Jet, with material and commercial ostentation.

Paa Joe is the foremost coffin-maker of his generation, who was apprenticed by Kane Kwei – the man credited with beginning the 20th century tradition of figurative coffins. Paa Joe’s work is held in museum collections around the world including the British Museum in London. The exhbition Paa Joe: Taking It With You is at the Jack Bell Gallery until 15 January 2011.
 
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With thanks to Douglas Steindorff
 
More of Paa Joe’s coffins after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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12.06.2010
10:11 am
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