This is a story of double serendipity. In 2013 the Fondation Zinsou organized Rupture, an exhibition of new paintings by Gérard Quenum. As the title suggests, Quenum was breaking away from his previous painting practice, opting for a bare bones graphic style using only primary colors, or simply black and white. Seeing Rupture in Cotonou was a revelation. Here was an artist who captured the Continent’s vibrant complexity in a stark, monochrome formal language. The Fondation was also a magnificent discovery. Then life took over… Until the summer of 2019 when we met Anne-Beatrix Keller Semadeni, the founder of DC gallery African Art Beats. At her inaugural exhibition we were reacquainted with the works of Quenum, and Le Visiteur finally came our way.
