Saatchi Gallery (again) -Pangaea : New art from Africa and Latin America..

A statue of Hans Sloane the
Charles Saachi of his day

One of the pleasures of visiting galleries in a group is the opportunity to hear other people's views on the works and thus learn about the works, the other people and (perhaps) yourself.
Yesterday I went again to the Saatchi in the posh King's Road part of London which has a new-ish show called Pangaea : New art from Africa and Latin America.

The Saatchi Gallery like the man it is named for (Charles Saatchi) is a one off and the exhibitions there are curated (I'm told) with him in mind, the space favours the large and dramatic and  unlike so many Galleries you are left free to get up close to the works.

Standout works included the Invasive Ants of Rafael Gómezbarros which have been displayed before externally but were used to good effect in the gallery here  also standing out were the brick globe of Fredy Alzate and the colourful works of  Boris Nzebo of Cameroonthe works by him reminded me of Patrick Caulfield in their use of Acrylic colour paints.



African art has been much in evidence ( I saw some at Tate Modern last summer)  and influence in Europe

Ants but not in pants

since the days of Picasso and this collection pays a nod to the fashion to look at the dark continent as a single entity (which of course it isn't) it further dilutes the message by including Latin America.
The common themes to much of the art coming out of Africa and other parts of the 'developing world'  if there are any that would fit  could be something about the tensions around both Colonialism and 

Sisyphus might push this

 Globalisation. Having said that there are some features of work that are pleasing to look at the vibrant use of colour and a somewhat naive exploration of expressionism is exciting to see.

The current exhibition is so eclectic that if you're an admirer of big in your face contemporary art I defy you to not enjoy at least one of the artists works.

It's always a pleasure to take some time to admire Richard Wilson's installation using the reflections around oil to trick the eye, he's in the news too with his Slipstream Sculpture at Heathrow.

The return to the Saatchi also gave me a change to see the Google collaboration (Motion Photography Prize) that I'd seen at the opening, with less people there I was really able to enjoy this.

The colour washes reminded me of Patrick Caufield