fbpx Biennale Arte 2024 | Dumile Feni
La Biennale di Venezia

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Dumile Feni

Worcester, South Africa, 1939 – 1991, New York, USA


  • TUE - SUN
    20/04 > 30/09
    11 AM - 7 PM
      
    01/10 > 24/11
    10 AM - 6 PM
  • Central Pavilion
  • Admission with ticket

Dumile Feni began his career as a mural painter and apprentice in a foundry in Johannesburg in the 1960s before a self-imposed exile to London in 1968, due to threat of arrest, and his eventual move to New York City. Head (1981 ca.) presents a recurring motif in Feni’s work: focusing on the head of a male figure, the subject is characterised by an elongated face resting on a long neck. Composed with strong lines and a dedicated focus on the form of the face and head, the work is striking for its Brancusi-like balance of soft curves married with strong lines to delineate precisely rendered features. The forehead and cheekbones appear to also form the lines of a mask or armour of some sort, suggesting a reference to traditional headgear. Produced in bronze, the sculpture reads as a reference to traditional African wood carved masks and figures.

This is the first time the work of Dumile Feni is presented at Biennale Arte.

—Heba Elkayal

Central Pavilion
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Biennale Arte
Biennale Arte