Cultural meeting : Achille Adonon, visual artist "... It is through creation that I can distinguish myself from other artists"

The drawing, the painting, sculpture and many others are the artistic fields in which we find the achievements of this young, purely contemporary artist. Achille Adonon is his name. Through this interview, he tells us about his love for the profession of the arts, the choice of this artistic career and its current exhibition.

What drew you to the arts profession? ?

Art, it's a passion for me. Art is innate in me. When I was a child, I had this passion. I was interested in fine arts, to music and many other artistic compartments. I had one wish : become an artist. I also dreamed of going, after my graduation, in a school of fine arts. Certainly, I did not go to a school of fine arts as wanted, but today I am an artist and I am delighted. 'Cause I'm doing what I've always dreamed of doing. I am in my career and I have not left my passion which is art.

What is your specificity as a visual artist ?

 First, I work a lot, I also create a lot. I have the chance to do in multidisciplinarity. Each day, I create and I deepen my work. As an artist, it is through creation that I can distinguish myself from other artists. It is through the originality of your creation that you can impose yourself in artistic society. 

Why the choice of worn shoes as work materials ?

The shoes, it's a long story. Why the shoes ? When I use the shoes, I want to talk about the man, specifically abandoned children. These shoes represent for me children, les "vi do mingon", orphans abandoned children. So I try to meet them, I pick them up, I get them back, I put them in my studio and I put myself in the shoes of a doctor to administer medicine to them so that these children can find healing. So somehow, I give them new life.

 We all know when we use the shoes and they get worn out, we throw them away, we abandon them. Since the strength of man is in the feet, when we do these things, we leave some of our energy in nature. Picking up those shoes, I try to create a new world for them. A world of joy and peace. we are all human. We are whatever our age, children of our parents. I think, when we buy an item, we are relatives of these articles. It is this comparison that is made between abandoned shoes and abandoned children. All, they need to live and not be rejected.

Why the choice of the color red to illustrate your works ?

The color red is royal blood, in my own village. In the past when you wear red, is that you are part of the royal line. If you are not king, is that you are princes, princess or queen. So I use the color red to simply show supremacy. Red for me is not danger but dignity and strength.

For your current exhibition, why did you choose as a theme : "The world is melting" ?

“Le Monde Fond” offers a reflection on the chaos of which the current world is the theater. plagued by violence, natural disasters, deadly epidemics, etc., the global balance is threatened. The tragedies that upset humanity seem to be linked in particular to the predominance of consumerist thought that tends to disregard the realities that made it possible. Seen everything that's going on, the world is no longer normal. Men go against the demands of life, the father sleeping with his daughter, the son who sleeps with his mother… everything goes wrong and the bad takes over the good. It's a real chaos.

Men no longer respect the ordinances of nature. Men are no longer in conformity with the rules and laws of nature. "The World is Melting" like ice cream in the sun. I wanted, by this exhibition, speak on behalf of the nature that is dying, hence the name of one of the exhibited works : ‘’Nature dead’’. Through this work, I invite the human species to become aware of the actions we take that affect the balance of our ecosystem. nature is dying, it crumbles and we too will die with it. Besides '' Nature dead '' I also created a work to show the chaos that humanity faces. Through this exhibition, I just want to sensitize the human person and draw our attention to all.

What will make your news in the coming months? ?

I have some residency projects ; already in November, I would be in Togo with students from the University of Fine Arts in Paris. Then I have a collective work with some Beninese artists here in Benin. For now, this is what is planned. I keep creating too. So although the exhibition that started on 08 last August is ongoing until 31 October 2020, I continue my creations.

 What do you think of the artistic sector in Benin ?

Without making a generalization, I can say that Beninese art is undergoing an evolution with regard to the plastic arts, for what i know. Today many people are interested in crafts and artists. Certainly there is still to be done, but what has been done is not negligible either..

Interview by : Firmin KASSAGA