El Loko (actually Edoh Lucien Loko) (1950 Pedakodji/Togo - 2016 ibid.)

Lot 9091 limit € 300

oil/canvas on hardboard, Weltenseiten-Duwe 76, monogrammed and dated 1999 lower right, approx. 80 x 61 cm, narrow framing, training as a textile designer, after being offered a place at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, he moved to Germany to start his studies in 1971, he studied with Joseph Beuys, Rolf Crummemauer and Erwin Heerich, 1977 degree in Fine Art with appointment as master student, first academically trained artist with African origin, since 1982 freelance in Duisburg and Cologne, EL Loko was looking for a global identity in his series of works World Faces. The faces of the world are represented in paintings of various sizes, in which elements of the cosmic alphabet can also be found. Different color schemes of black, white, yellow and red reflect different human races. Faces present themselves without any specific features that would allow them to be assigned to origin or gender. The universal human face is shown in a seemingly infinite variety of designs. EL Loko's world faces are faces of the other that look at us at eye level and appear like a mirror of ourselves.