<strong>Romuald Hazoumè</strong>, 
<em>No Limit</em> (detail), from the series <em>Kpayoland</em>, 2004.
Edition of 9 plus 2 artist's proofs, Baryte print, 49 x 74 cm.<strong>Romuald Hazoumè</strong>, <em>Rat Singer: Second Only to God!</em> (detail), 2013. <br>Mixed media, 400 x 600 x 600 cm.<strong>Romuald Hazoumè</strong>, 
<em>Station d'essence d'Abomey Calavi</em> (detail), 2006. Lambda C-type digital print, 37.5 x 243 cm. Ed. of 6.

ROMUALD HAZOUMÈ

Romuald Hazoumè.
Photo: © Jonathan Greet, 2017.
Romuald Hazoumè, Ma Poule, 2013.
Found objects, 46 x 42 x 12 cm.


Romuald Hazoumè is one of Africa’s foremost contemporary artists and recipient of the prestigious Arnold Bode Prize at documenta 12. The artist’s astute and sardonically political oeuvre is realised in a diverse range of media, including multimedia installation, sculpture, video, photography and painting. Using the ubiquitous plastic petrol can as his iconic signature, Hazoumè undertakes monumental installations which act as metaphors of African place, history and identity. The petrol canisters bring to mind the Beninese men and women who ferry contraband gasoline between Nigeria and their Beninese consumers.

October Gallery held Hazoume’s first solo exhibition at the gallery in 2005. In 2007, October Gallery collaborated with the British Museum to present the work La Bouche du Roi, a monumental installation, which acted as a powerful tribute to those who suffered the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade. It toured to Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle, Coventry; and the Horniman Museum (London). Hazoumè’s work has been exhibited in major international galleries and museums across the globe including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France; and ICP, New York, USA. In 2018, Hazoumè was included in the Kyotographie International Photography Festival, Kyoto, Japan. Recent exhibitions including his works are Ex-Africa, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France, Expression(s) décoloniale(s) #2, Château des Duc de Bretagne, Musée d’Histoire de Nantes, Nantes, France and Portable Sculpture, Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds, UK.

His works are in prominent public and private collections around the world, including the permanent collections of the British Museum, London, UK; QAGOMA, Brisbane, Australia; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA; MoMA, New York, USA; the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, Switzerland; and Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France.

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CAREER HIGHLIGHTS



 

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ROMUALD HAZOUMÈ

Born in 1962, Porto-Novo, Benin. Lives and works in Porto-Novo and Cotonou, Benin.
Selected solo exhibitions
2022   Romuald Hazoumè: Carnaval, October Gallery, London, UK
2021   Romuald Hazoumè, Magin-A, Paris, France
2019   Romuald Hazoumè, Cheri Samba, FIAC OFFICIELLE, Paris, France
2018   Romuald Hazoumè, Gagosian Gallery, New York City, New York, USA
2016   Romuald Hazoumè: All in the Same Boat, October Gallery, London, UK
Romuald Hazoumè, Gagosian Le Bourget and Gagosian Gallery Paris, Paris, France
Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie 59pm, Brussels, Belgium
2015   Kunst & Nachhaltigkeit Vol. 4, Romuald Hazoumè, Swiss Mobiliar, Berne, Switzerland
Arè, Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin Romuald Hazoumè: Dance of the Butterflies, Manchester Museum, UK
Rat-Singer: Second Only to God!, Beyond Sector, Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi, UAE with October Gallery, London, UK
2014   The Armory Show, New York, USA, solo booth with October Gallery, London, UK
2013   Romuald Hazoumè: Beninese Solidarity with Endangered Westerners, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria
2012   Romuald Hazoumè: Cargoland, October Gallery, London, UK
2011   Romuald Hazoumè, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland, touring to Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, UK
2010   Romuald Hazoumè: My Paradise - Made in Porto- Novo, Herbert-Gerisch-Stiftung, Neumünster, Germany
Romuald Hazoumè: Exit Ball, Solo Projects ARCOmadrid, Madrid, Spain with Galerie Aliceday, Brussels, Belgium
2009   Romuald Hazoumè: Made in Porto-Novo, October Gallery, London, UK
Exit Ball, Galerie Aliceday, Brussels, Belgium
La Bouche du Roi, The Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, Coventry, UK
2008   La Bouche du Roi, Horniman Museum & Gardens, London, UK
2007   La Bouche du Roi, The British Museum, London; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; Merseyside Maritime Museum, National Museums Liverpool, Liverpool; Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol; Laing Art Gallery,
Tyne & Wear Museums, Newcastle, UK
Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
2006   Romuald Hazoumè: La Bouche du Roi, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France
2005   Romuald Hazoumè, Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin
ARTicle 14, Débrouille-toi, toi-même!, October Gallery, London; World Museum, Liverpool, UK
Romuald Hazoumè: La Bouche du Roi, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
2002   Romuald Hazoumè, Centre Culturel Français, Turin, Italy
2001   Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Olivier Houg, Lyon, France
1999   Romuald Hazoumè: La Bouche du Roi, Centre Culturel Français, Cotonou, Benin
Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Gut Gasteil, Prigglitz, Austria
Romuald Hazoumè: Vor-Sicht, Dany Keller Galerie, Munich, Germany; Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany; The Project,
New York, USA
1998   Breeduit, Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Benin/Benin tussen gisteren/morgen,Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Romuald Hazoumè, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
1997   Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie 20, Arnhem, Netherlands
1996   Romuald Hazoumè, Gelbe Musik Galerie, Berlin; Dany Keller Galerie, Munich; Firma Harlekin Art,  Wiesbaden, Germany
1990-91   Masques Bidons II, National Museum, Accra, Ghana; Institut Français of Lagos, Nigeria; Bamako, Mali; Dakar, Senegal; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; Museum Forum der Völker - Völkerkundemuseum der Franziskaner, Werl, Germany
1990   Romuald Hazoumè, Afrika Forum, Heidelberg, Germany
1989   Masques Bidons I, Centre Culturel Français, Cotonou; French-Nigerian Cultural Centre, Niamey, Niger
Selected group exhibitions
2024   Transvangarde: Free Style Cipher, October Gallery, London, UK
2023   Transvangarde: Pushing Boundaries, October Gallery, London, UK
1.5 degrees: Interdependencies of Life, the Cosmos, and Technology
, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Constellation, Galerie Magnin-A, Paris, France
2022   Nomadic Resonance, October Gallery, London, UK
Christian Louboutin: the Exhibition[nist]. Chapter II., Grimaldi Forum Monaco, Monaco
+4000 ans d'art africain, Wall House Museum, Saint-Barthélémy, France
2021   Ex-Africa, Musée du Quai Branly, Jacques Chirac, Paris, France
OIL. Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany
FIAC Viewing Rooms, with Magnin-A, Paris, France
Expression(s) décoloniale(s) #2,Chateau des Duc de Bretagne, Musee d’Histoire de Nantes, Nantes, France 
Portable Sculpture, Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds, UK
Frieze New York, Online with October Gallery, London, UK 
Slavery: Ten True Stories, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2020   Résonances, Fondation Opale, Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Alpha Crucis: African Contemporary Art, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway
Atmospheres: Artists of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK 
2019   Life Through Extraordinary Mirrors, October Gallery, London, UK
Dream No Small Dream: Celebrating 40 Years of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK, with October Gallery, London, UK
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, USA, with October Gallery, London, UK 
2018   Kyotographie,  Kyoto, Japan
Traces, Tracks & Pathways, MECA, Maine, USA
Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
African Passions, Palais Cadava, Evora, Portugal
EXPO Chicago, Chicago, USA, with October Gallery, London, UK Everyday Africa!, Zinsou Foundation, Cotonou, Benin
From Africa to the Americas, Face-to-face Picasso, Past and Present, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada 
2017   249th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Essentiel Paysage
, Musée d’Art Contemporain Africain Al Maaden (MACAAL), Marrakech, Morocco 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK with October Gallery, London, UK
The Eye in the Mask
, Socle du Monde Biennale, Herning, Denmark
Art/Africa; le nouvel atelier,
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Open Museum #4 Alain Passard, Musée des beaux-Arts, Lille, France
The Eye in the Mask, Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum, Herning, Denmark
Frieze New York, New York, USA, with October Gallery, London, UK
Art Paris Art Fair, Paris, France, with October Gallery, London, UK
Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
AFRICA; Raccontare un mondo, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea (PAC), Milan, Italy
We All Love Art, Schlachthaus.fresh&fine art, SevenStarGallery, Berlin, Germany
2016   Essential Landscape, Al Maaden Art Gallery, Centre of Contemporary African Art, Marrakesh, Morocc
Dans le regard de l’autre, Le Carreau, Cergy, France
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, USA
Independent Brussels 2016, Brussels, Belgium
2015   Picasso Mania, Grand Palais, Paris, France
FIAC OFFICIELLE, Paris, France
Frestas - Art Triennial, São Paulo, Brazil
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK; New York, USA
Folk Art Africain?, FRAC, Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France
Global Imaginations, Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, Netherlands
Double Take: African Innovations, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
2014   Interwoven Histories, October Gallery, London, UK
Art from Elsewhere: International Contemporary Art from UK Galleries, Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Glasgow, UK
Interchange Junctions, Howick Place, London, UK
FIAC-OFFICIELLE, Paris, France
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK
Here Africa, Musée des Suisses dans le Monde, Genève, Switzerland
MASKS, JGM Galerie, Paris, France
BIACI: International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Cartagena, Colombia
Post-Picasso: Contemporary Reactions, Picasso Museum, Barcelona, Spain
Art Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
2013   Macht. Wahn. Vision. Museum Heilbronn, Heilbronn, Germany
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK
Art Paris Art Fair, Paris, France
Sleepless Night (as part of the Tribute exhibition), Institut Français of Benin, Cotonou, Benin
Focus on the Collection, Le Musée, Fondation Zinsou, Ouidah, Benin
Initiés – Masques de Romuald Hazoumè, Museé Dapper, Paris, France
West to West, Städtische Galerie, Bremen, Germany
Material Conceptualism: The Comfort of Things, Aanant & Zoo, Berlin, Germany
ARTZUID, International Sculpture Route, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Water Cargo, Art Dubai, UAE with October Gallery, London, UK
Metropolis, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK
Vom Eigensinn der Dinge, KAI 10, Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany
2012   The Progress of Love, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
Sculpture is Everything: Contemporary Works from the Collection, QAGOMA, Brisbane, Australia
Moving Into Space: Football and Art in West Africa, National Football Museum, Manchester, UK
African Cosmos: Stellar Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., touring to Newark Museum, 2013, New Jersey, USA
We Face Forward, Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
Beneath a Petroliferous Moon, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea
Afrovision – Contemporary Art from Africa, Baku Museum of Modern Art, Baku, Azerbaija
Africa/Africa, Abbey of Saint-André, Contemporary Art Centre, Meymac, France
At Eye Level: Masterpieces of Medieval and Modern Art, Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany
2011   ARS 11, Kiasma – Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
The Global Africa Project, MAD – Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
L’Afrique à Paris, with Kura Shomali, Chéri Samba, Galerie Hussenot & Magnin-A, Paris, France
Environment and Object - Recent African Art,  Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, New York; Virginia Commonwealth University, Virgina; Middlebury College Museum of Art, Vermont , USA
Art Paris, Just Art!, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
2010   21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
The Global Africa Project, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity, The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany
The Land Between Us, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
African Stories, Marrakech Art Fair with Magnin-A, Marrakech, Morocco
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
2009   AFRICA? Una nuova storia, Complesso del Vittoriano (Jean Pigozzi Collection), Rome, Italy
3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art: Against Exclusion, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia
Africa Arte Contemporanea, Four Seasons Hotel and Galerie JZ Art Trading, Milan, Italy
PERSONA. Ritual Masks and Contemporary Art, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Bénin 2059, Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin
Who’s Betting on the 47?, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
2008   U-TURN, Quadrennial for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
Angaza Afrika: African Art Now, October Gallery, London, UK
PetrodollART, Galerie Motte et Rouard, Paris, France
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
2007   Why Africa?, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy
documenta 12, Kassel, Germany
UN/FAIR TRADE. Die Kunst der Gerechtigkeit, Neue Galerie, Graz, Switzerland
Uncomfortable Truths: The Shadow of Slave Trading on Contemporary Art & Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Salford; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, UK
Masques rituels et contemporains, Fondation Jean- Paul Blachère, Apt, France
From Courage to Freedom, October Gallery, London, UK
2006   100% Africa, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain
De ida y vuelta: África, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
Snap Judgements. New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, International Center of Photography, New York; Miami Art Central; Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2005   African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA
2004 – 2007   Africa Remix, Düsseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg,
South Africa
2003   Armour: The Fortification of Man, Biennial of KunstFort Asperen, Acquoy, Netherlands
Magic Markers: Objects of Transformation, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, USA; Musée Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland; Musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains (MUDAC), Lausanne, Switzerland
Correspondances Afriques, Iwalewa-Haus, Afrikazentrum der Universität Bayreuth,
Bayreuth, Germany
2002   African Market, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
40 Jahre: Fluxus und die Folgen, Kunstsommer Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany
2001   TRADE, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
Lost & Found, Apex Art Curatorial Program, New York, USA
XXXV Prix International d’art contemporain de Monte Carlo, Salle des Arts, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Œil pour œil, Le Rectangle-Centre d’art contemporain, Lyon, France
2000   Sieben Hügel, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany
Romuald Hazoumè, Paul Pfeiffer, Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Partage d’exotismes, 5th Biennale d’art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Man + Space, Gwangju Biennale, South Kore
D’sign, Galerie Dany Keller, Munich, Germany
Dinge in der Kunst des XX. Jahrhunderts, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Construction in Process VII: This Earth Is a Flower, The International Artists’ Museum, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Art Basel 2000, Galerie Art & Public, Basel, Switzerland
1999   Spaceship Earth, Art in General, New York, USA
Paradise 8, Exit Art, New York, USA
Liverpool Biennial: International Festival of Contemporary Art, Liverpool, UK
1992   Out of Africa: Contemporary African Artists from the Pigozzi Collection, Saatchi Gallery, London
Awards and Prizes
2009    3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow
2007    Arnold-Bode-Preis,
documenta 12, Kassel
1996    George-Maciunas-Preis, Wiesbaden
Collections
Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway
Barbier Muller Collection, Geneva, Switzerland
Black Gold Museum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA
The British Museum, London, UK
C.A.A.C. - The Jean Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, Switzerland
Collection Agnès b, Paris, France
Collection David Bowie, UK
Desmoines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
The Robert Devereux Collection, London, UK and Nairobi, Kenya
Die Mobiliar Art Collection, Berne, Switzerland
Emdash Foundation, London, UK
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin
The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont, USA
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Mount Holyoke College of Art Museum, South Hadley, Massachusetts, USA
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Museumslandschaft Hessen, Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall and Birmingham Museums Trust, Birmingham, UK
Permanent Collection of the US Embassy, Cotonou, Benin, Art in Embasssies, US Department of State
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Sin Jina Collection, London, UK and Nairobi, Kenya
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, USA
The Walther Collection, Neu Ulm, Ohio, USA

OCTOBER GALLERY ARTISTS