Fou Goy - Fool’s Work - Artist’s Statement
When I first moved to a rural village as a volunteer in the Sahel Desert in southwestern Niger, I threw myself deeply into a new artistic process. I was deeply inspired to create mixed-media collages from materials like bits of fabric, plastic and tin dishware and woven mats that I found in the fields in the region.
During the afternoons, I would sit in the shade and work on large scale art pieces with these materials. New friends from the village would stop by to see what I was working on. “Ifo no ne go ga te da takarada? Ni go ga te fou goy. Nda nwaray nda noru. Ifo no?” which in the language of Djarma means, “What are you doing with this rubbish? It’s not food or money, so what is it? You are doing fool’s work.” I didn’t like being scolded, and I felt guilty. So, I didn’t work on my artwork for some time.
This year my husband’s company was acquired, and as he looked for a new position, it brought up similar feelings for me as I worked on a new series of collage art pieces. I created this series with my own materials and collage bits that my mother who is also an artist gave me. There is a great deal of discipline in the geometrical imagery, which reflects my current life perspective. Although there is a sense of control in the art pieces, the images were created in a quick and spontaneous fashion due to the limited time I would allow myself to make this art.
In a similar vein, many Nigeriens must save, reuse, and mend broken materials to give assurance to their uncertain lives in the ever-changing Sahel desert.
Biography
Gretchen Beck served as Chair of the Art Department, Professor of Art, Curator and on the faculty at Concordia University, Irvine, CA, for eleven years. Currently, she is professional artist.
She exhibits and discusses her work in juried group and solo exhibitions in galleries, on national and international levels. Her current juried exhibitions are the following: Women in Art Fair, Mall Galleries, London, England, October 2024, Battersea Autumn Art Fair, London, England, October 2024, 62nd National Juried Exhibition, Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA, September – October 2024, La Femme – Framing the Feminine, Photo Artfolio Gallery, Boston, MA, August – December 2024, Haven: Place of Comfort and Contemplation, Sebastopol Center for the Arts Gallery, Sebastopol, CA, August 2024, Word and Weft, Webster Arts Gallery, Webster Groves, MO, August – September 2024, Art World Exhibition, Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, Washington, DC, July – September 2024 and Finest Art Showcase San Diego 2024, Art Scene West, San Diego, CA, June 2024.
She also is a represented artist at the NoonPowell Fine Art Gallery www.noonpowellfineart.com in London, England. For further information about her work in the visual arts, please contact her at gretchenjo.beck@gmail.com and you can view her art at www.gretchenbeck.com
