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Exposición: Fernando Nguema. Obras incompletas 1992 – 2008
Fernando was a “sculptor of modern art” as he liked to describe himself. He sought roots in the forest, carried them to his workshop, barely retouched them and turned them into sculptures with true expressive force.
Alfonso Ramos
From 26 October 2016 to 5 January 2017, in its Kilimanjaro and Equatorial Guinea rooms, Casa África is hosting the exhibition Fernando Nguema. Incomplete Works 1992 - 2008 in tribute to this sculptor from Equatorial Guinea.
In collaboration with the Spanish Agency for Cooperation and Development (AECID), Casa África has collected together some of Nguema’s most representative works at its headquarters. They speak for themselves of the creative greatness of this multi-talented artist who died some years ago. Most of these pieces belong to the AECID art collection and private collections in Spain and Equatorial Guinea.
Fernando was a multifaceted creator: he played the xylophone, sang, painted, worked with traditional musical instruments and above all he carved wood. Fernando used to define himself as a man of the jungle and his works were born in the forest.
Eloísa Vaello Marco
The show now on in Casa África is the first retrospective of Nguema’s career and encompasses virtually all his artistic life since leaving Luba in 1991 until his death in Malabo in 2008.
This exhibition aims to honour this unclassifiable sculptor, barely known in his country and much less outside.
His work was neither valued nor sought after. Most of the pieces that he made were acquired by his closest circle of friends. Most of the works lent to this exhibition belong to them.
Leandro Mbomio, an expert in African sculpture, said that Fernando embodied the natural succession to his work, combining as it did tradition and modernity. Fernando was perhaps never aware that he was that last link, because due to his personal circumstances he always lived in Guinea and, except for a few months spent with his Gabonese master Obiang Edjan, never looked closely at the work and proposals of other artists, or other creative currents that could have nourished and influenced his work.
The environment in which he lived made him self-taught. This feature is perhaps one of those that marks the uniqueness and originality of his work, which leaves no one indifferent.
Another important facet of his career was training. Fernando Nguema always felt obliged to transfer his knowledge, both artistically and technically. He was responsible for the Hispanic-Guinean Cultural Centre sculpture workshop in Malabo. It was his space, where he could teach and create during his most prolific and original period.
His work is traditional, but also denounces. It is lyrical, funny, ironic, committed, delirious, playful, acerbic. He was proud to be Fang and custodian of its rich pre-literate tradition. Now we have been left with the challenge of deciphering the inner world of Fernando Nguema through his works.
Jorge Peralta, Head of the Department of Cooperation and Cultural Promotion of the AECID
Gallery of photographs published by the newspaper La Provincia
