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In a fi eld where an abiding question is, “Why are there no young collectors?” Javier Peres stands out, not only as a remarkably active collector who is in his early for-ties, but as an individual who is unusually passionate about African art. His contemporary art gallery, Peres Projects, is currently based in Berlin but has a presence at just about every art fair of any consequence. This grew from smaller spaces, fi rst in San Francisco and then in Los Angeles, New York, and Athens. Wherever his base of operations has been, Peres has made a splash on the international art scene with his bold selection of artists and artworks and his hardcore style as a gallerist. Over the years his stable of artists has included such names as Terence Koh, Bruce LaBruce, as-sume vivid astro focus, Joe Bradley, Dan Colen, Dash Snow, Agathe Snow, Kirstine Roepstorff, Alex Israel, David Ostrowski, Brent Wadden, Leo Gabin, and Mark Flood. His artists’ works have been included in such prestigious juried events as the Venice Biennale, the Whitney Biennial, the Tate Triennial, and the São Paulo Biennial, to name just a few of their accolades. While his work with contem-porary art is famous and even infamous in the art world, his relationship with African art has been little discussed but has long been a major part of his life and his aesthetic perception. We recently paid a visit to his beautiful Ber-lin apartment, had a cup of tea in a Peter Shire mug, and talked about the truly remarkable collection of African art around us, which comfortably shared the space with large canvases by major-name contemporary painters, many of whose notable careers he helped build.

Tribal Art Magazine: The Instagram account for your contemporary art gallery (@peresprojects) features quite a lot of African art objects, many with the hashtag #obsessed. This is eloquent in its brevity, but how would you defi ne your relationship with African art for those not versed in social media?

Javier Peres: I use #obsessed when a work of art blows me away. I think the fi rst time I used it was for the Urhobo maternity at the Louvre. That sculpture is one of my favorite artworks of all time. It’s so dynamic, powerful, and sweet—all at once. I’ve never seen anything else like it and I’ve even dreamed about it. African art has long been a commanding force in my life. It’s a powerful attraction and living with the works I collect makes me very happy.

African art also has long infl uenced my aesthetics, including what interests me in contemporary art. Some of the contemporary artists who I fi rst championed, such as

TRIBAL people

#OBSESSED JAVIER PERES

and African ArtInterview by Jonathan Fogel

FIG. 1: Javier Peres, Berlin, 2015.Photo: Andrea Rossetti.

All contemporary artworks pictured courtesy of Peres Projects, Berlin.

Terence Koh and Joe Bradley, made works that resonated with various African traditions, like the Punu of Gabon in the case of Koh and the Dogon/Tellem with Bradley. But I kept my interest in African art and my contemporary art business separate, and it’s only in recent years that I’ve decided to bring these parts of me together. I fi nd that social media allows me to bring African art to a broader audience that is already interested in material culture, and through it I can share with them how I integrate these art traditions.T. A. M.: You’ve garnered substantial fame as a contemporary art gallerist, and you’ve used this to promote your perceptions of African art in some of your gallery shows and in non-commercial exhibitions. How do you feel African art relates to contemporary art? And how do contemporary art collectors respond to your installations?

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J. P.: I think that African art informs a lot of contemporary art, certainly on aesthetic terms. I decided a few years ago to share my interest in classical African art with my friends and with the audience that follows my gallery, as it was a real opportunity to show and explore how its traditions are linked to what I most love about Western art. Early twentieth-century artists unknowingly set forth a domino effect when they explored African forms and allowed their minds to be infl uenced by what they saw. What started with Picasso, Matisse, and the Paris School has carried through to today and continues to be a source of inspiration, if not a direct and literal infl uence. It does so because it’s entered into our subconscious, which is what artists continue to respond to. It’s something I see in the way many artists from the last ten years who I admire have tackled the human form in paintings and sculpture, and even in performance art. So I fi gured that people who enjoy the art and artists that I enjoy would also be open to looking at and engaging with classical art from Africa, and so far it’s been successful.

FIG. 4 (top, left to right): Crocodile mask. Dogon, Mali.

Reportedly collected by Michel Leiris. Ex Han Coray, before 1960; Galerie Témoin, Geneva.Wood, pigment. L: 61 cm.

Sande Society helmet mask. Gola, Liberia

See fi g. 8d.

Donna Huanca, BBHMM, 2015.

84 Jade épatant crème D’eyeliner on wool. 140 x 240 cm.

Photo: Andrea Rossetti.

FIG. 5 (above, left to right): Mask. Baule, Côte d’Ivoire.

Collected by Hans Himmelheber in the early 1930s.Ex Lore and Dr. Georg Kegel.Wood, pigment. H: 28.6 cm.

Mask. Dan, Côte d’Ivoire.Ex Shériff Sidibé, Abidjan; Lionel Sergent, 2010; Valluet-de Fabry, Paris, France, 2010–2015.Wood, metal. H: 28.6 cm.

Mask. Diomandé, Côte d’Ivoire.

Collected by Jean Houzeau de Lehaie, April 25, 1934. Ex Raoul Blondiau, Brussels; Jacques and Denise Schwob, Brussels, 1953.Wood. H: 29 cm.

Photo: Andrea Rossetti.

Apartment interiors, 2015.

FIG. 2 (above, left to right): Jeremy DePrez, Untitled, 2015.

Acrylic on canvas. 221 x 167.6 cm.

Male fi gure. Igbo, Nigeria.Ex Carlo Monzino, Castagnola.Wood, pigment. H: 180 cm.

Photo: Hans-Georg Gaul.

FIG. 3 (above, left to right): Merlin Carpenter, POLICE 11, 2013.

Oil on linen. 137.5 x 198.5 cm.

Headcrest, ogbom. Ibeku, Oloro, Olokoro, or Ngwa group, Igbo, Umuahia area, Cross River region, Nigeria.

Most likely sourced by El Hadj Idris-sou, Douala.Ex Alain Dufour/Galerie ex Afrique, Paris; Alain de Monbrison, Paris, 2015.Wood, metal nails, raffi a. H: 103 cm.

Photo: Hans-Georg Gaul.

At this point I’ve done one large exhibition combining African and contemporary art, which was called Group Spirit. I brought together a group of abstract paintings by contemporary American and European artists with seven of my Bundu helmet masks by unknown artists from the Bassa, Gola, Mende, and Vai cultures. I wanted to highlight how “secret” meaning could be expressed in both African art and in contemporary abstract painting. The various details found in the faces, coiffures, and necks of Bundu helmet masks are loaded with signifi cance that was known only to the female members of that particular Sande Society when the mask was in use. I have seen a similar pattern occurring in a lot of abstract

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art over the last fi ve years. Artists are packing their works with meaning that is known only to those within their close-knit circles. I think having works that share certain affi nities—although not necessarily visual ones—can be very exciting for the viewer. Several contemporary artists that I don’t regularly work with, along with many that I represent, were inspired by the idea and made incredible works. The exhibition was a great success and we placed a couple of important paintings with major American museums.

I am now working on my next exhibition that will include African art from my collection for the summer of 2016. This one will be called Wild Style and will explore fi guration in African and contemporary art. My goal will be to transport the viewer to a dream world via an intellectual journey that has as its starting point the surrealist salons of the early twentieth century. We will also publish a book bringing together images and information from Wild Style and Group Spirit.

T. A. M.: Speaking of Bundu masks, in addition to your other African material, you’ve formed what is certainly one of the largest and fi nest collections of Bundu masks in private hands. Why did you choose to create an encyclopedic collection of these?J. P.: I collect Bundu helmet masks because I am very attracted to representations of beauty in African art. For me, a great Bundu mask can be the epitome of beauty,

especially because of the incredible coiffures and the beautiful dark, glossy patinas that symbolize the spirit of the Sande emerging from the water. Whenever I have the opportunity to add a great Bundu to my collection, I take it. A few years ago I was able to acquire an incredible Bassa helmet mask formerly in the William Siegmann Collection from Bernard Dulon in Paris, and it remains one of my favorite sculptures in my art collection. I currently have it on a pedestal in my bedroom positioned so that I can always see it from my bed.

When I started acquiring Bundu helmets, I had in mind the great group formerly in the Arman Collection,

and I was also thinking of the large groupings of marble busts in the Archeological Museum in Athens. My goal is to one day dedicate a large room in my home or an institution to my Bundu helmets, each on its own pedestal, so they can be experienced en masse.

T. A. M.: We’ve known each other for more than fi fteen years now. When we fi rst met and you were living in San Francisco, you had a small collection of

African statues that were all female. Bundu masks aside, your focus is substantially different today. How has your collecting evolved over the years?J. P.: I started to collect African art in 2000 when I was still practicing law in SF. At that time I was particularly interested in notions of classicism and the connections between Greek, Roman, and African art. The female form was my initial passion and I started to look at and acquire female statues on my business trips to NYC, Paris, and Brussels. The more I looked, the more different types of objects attracted me. At the beginning my focus was mainly art from Ivory Coast and the surrounding regions—Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, etc. Looking back I would say that I was going for works that today I would call “pretty” and quite safe. Over the last couple of years, I have really started to fi nd myself in my collecting and have become more adventurous and experimental. My focus has switched from the safe and pretty to the strong and bold, with works from Nigeria, Cameroon, and now also Gabon and the DRC becoming more and more what I’m attracted to.

Another big shift is the amount of time I spend looking at, researching, and learning about African art. I now

FIG. 7 (above): Apartment interior, 2015. Left to right: Male headcrest. Eket, Nigeria.

See fi g. 13.

Max Lamb, Poly Dining Set Commission (12 chairs), 2014. So Society horned helmet mask. Fang or Bulu, Gabon/southern Cameroon.

Wood, fi ber, pigment. H: 52 cm.

Other dining room objects captioned in fi g. 6.Bundu masks on table cap-tioned in fi g. 8.Photo: Hans-Georg Gaul.

FIG. 6 (left): Apartment interior, 2015. Left to right: Standing fi gure. Mumuye, Nigeria.

Ex Jean-Claude Andrault, Seillans; Galerie Monbrison, Paris.Wood. H: 81 cm.

Blair Thurman, Goth Rocket II (Menthol 100’s), 2014.

Acrylic on canvas, wood. 186.1 x 87 cm.

Headcrest. Igbo, Nigeria.Ex Michel Perinet, Paris, 1978–1985; Christine Valluet, Paris, 1985; Don-ald Morris, Birmingham, Michigan, 1998; Myron Kunin, Minneapolis, 1998.Wood, pigment. H: 76.8 cm.

Photo: Hans-Georg Gaul.

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FIG. 8: Sande Society helmet masks, bundu.Left to right, top to bottom:a. Mende, Sierra Leone.

Ex John Dintenfass, New York; Pace Primitive, New York.Wood. H: 37 cm.

b. Bassa, Liberia.Ex John Buxton, Dallas; Thomas D. Slater, Indianapolis; Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen, Andover.Wood, metal, cowrie shells. H: 41.5 cm.

c. “Gonde,” Mende or Vai, southwestern Sierra Leone.

Ex Pierre & Claude Vérité Collection, Paris; Jacques Germain, Montreal.Wood, pigment. H: 40 cm.

d. Gola, Liberia.Collected by Charles Miller III in the 1970s.Ex Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York.Wood, metal, pigment. H: 47.5 cm.

e. Bassa, Liberia.Ex William Siegmann, New York; Galerie Bernard Dulon, Paris.Wood. H: 42.5 cm.

f. Mende, Sierra Leone.Ex William Siegmann, New York; Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York.Wood. H: 31 cm.

g. Mende, Sierra Leone.Ex Armand & Corice Arman, New York; Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York.Wood, metal. H: 33 cm.

h. Mende, Sierra Leone.Collected by Charles Miller III in the 1970s.Ex Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York.Wood, pigment, silver. H: 40 cm.

i. Mende (ndoli jowei), Sierra Leone. Attributed to the Master of Nguabu.

Ex Eric Robertson, New York; Peter-Michael Boyd, Seattle; Robert and Lillian Bohlen, Brighton; Myron Kunin, Minneapolis, 2008.Wood, pigment, 1943 British West African three pence coin on string. H: 39.4 cm.

Photos: Andrea Rossetti.

JAVIER PERES

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minimal and free of distraction. I’m quite a neat person, to the point where it sometimes drives my boyfriend crazy, but I like to live with art surrounding me everywhere I go. It’s important for me to be able to appreciate these objects, their forms, and their surfaces, and a minimal environment facilitates this experience. The pieces I love are so powerful and commanding that they speak for themselves. They occupy the space with their presence, and I think a crowded environment would tone them down.

T. A. M.: I believe you told me that most of the African material that is presently in your Berlin apartment was acquired within the last three years. This must be three dozen or more pieces, the majority of them pretty substantial. How do you anticipate your collection evolving in the future?J. P.: Yes, I’ve acquired most of the African art in my Berlin fl at in the last two or three years. I still have pieces from early on, but I’m more interested in living with what I have acquired recently. I tend to be very determined, and when I like something I want to surround myself with it. The same is the case with contemporary art. I tend to collect in depth—ten to twenty works as opposed to only one or two paintings by an artist I admire. So in the African art context, having groups of works of one type is also something that I fi nd exciting, which is why I plan on continuing to add to my Bundu collection.

My goal is to live with a substantial collection of the highest quality possible, but at the same time I don’t have a preconceived notion of what my collection should look like. At this stage, I have a strong interest in art from Nigeria and I’m trying to acquire more sculptures from this region, particularly from the Benue River Valley, the Niger River Delta, the Cross River, etc. I’m attracted to very strong and expressive works, so sculptures from Cameroon, Gabon, and the DRC can also be very appealing. The great thing about collecting African art is that it is a never-ending pleasure and an ongoing learning process. I feel like I’m still in the very early stages of building my collection, and with each acquisition my collection gains another layer that I didn’t necessarily anticipate. It’s very exciting!

I temper my nature to collect by surrounding myself with what’s interesting and compelling at the time. For me this means that as I acquire new works, whether they are contemporary or classic African art, I have to fi nd a place for them without disrupting the overall harmony of what’s around me.

T. A. M.: You’ve been buying extensively, often from well-known dealers and at high-end auctions. What is the

FIG. 9 (right): Standing fi gure attributed to the Master of the Wedge-Shaped Beard. Teke, DR Congo.Ex Stephen Chauvet, Paris; Pierre Vé-rité, Paris; Alain de Monbrison, Paris; Spanish private collection; Galerie Jean-Baptiste Bacquart, London. Wood, pigment, textile, “magic charge”/bilongo. Baseby Kichizô Inagaki. H: 49 cm.Photo: Andrea Rossetti.

make it a point to attend the major sales in Paris and NYC, going to Parcours and BRUNEAF, and visiting galleries and museums all over Europe and the U.S.

T. A. M.: Your galleries and your living space are clean lined to the point of being minimalist, but the African art you’re attracted to these days frequently is pretty wooly, with heavy patinas and even blood encrustation. How does this dichotomy function for you? J. P.: I’m very attracted to objects that were extensively used within their original context to the utmost effect and power. This is particularly the case with my Fang, Igbo, and Kaka sculptures, all of which have considerable signs of extensive use over long periods of time. I especially appreciate their incredible surfaces in a space that is

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advantage for you in acquiring works this way?J. P.: I buy from different sources, including dealers, auctions, and other collectors. What’s most important to me are the objects themselves. Lately I’ve been focusing on works from Nigeria, and these sculptures come to me from varied sources. However, some of the more established and well-known dealers in Paris and Brussels have helped me acquire incredible sculptures that have really enriched my collection. Provenance is an important factor but one that follows the initial and critical aesthetic pull an object has on me. Being a history nerd, I love it when an object not only is incredible for me to look at but also when I know that it was handled and experienced by historic fi gures who are important to the fi eld. Take, for example, my Teke sculpture. This powerful fi gure, which still has its magical charge, came through the hands of some very important men—Stephen Chauvet, Pierre Vérité, and Alain de Monbrison—and it was included in the groundbreaking 1935 MOMA exhibition, African Negro Art, where it was seen by an American audience that was experiencing African art for the fi rst time. This sort of history of an object adds another layer of enjoyment that is important for me. Objects such as this tend to be well known and are most often found with high-end dealers and auctions.

T. A. M.: Over the years you’ve enlisted some skilled help in building your collection. How did you form those relationships and how do they function?J. P.: Collecting in this fi eld can open the doors to a great education. It’s been like learning another language, one that I have to constantly keep adding vocabulary to in order to be able to communicate. When I started collecting fi fteen years ago, I met Guy Van Rijn in Brussels and he was really helpful in sharing his knowledge and information. I met Bruno Claessens a couple of years ago through Guy and we immediately started to work together. This relationship has really been at the core of my current collecting, allowing me to dive deeper and deeper into the fi eld.

As I said, aesthetics are always the starting point when I approach an object, but since I come from an academic background I also enjoy the learning process behind an object. Aesthetically speaking, classical African art is for me one of the pinnacles of art production, but having access to the history of an object —why it was created, who it was created by, and for whose use—has allowed me to learn things about the art that I couldn’t have imagined. It broadens my intellectual understanding considerably, and now with Bruno’s guidance I’m more receptive to new ideas and forms than I ever could have

FIGS. 10a & b: Altar. Kaka, Mbem region, Western Cameroon.Ex El Hadji Amadou Yende; Karl Fer-dinand Schaedler, early 1970s–1985; James Willis, San Francisco, 1985; Helen and Robert Kuhn, Los Angeles, 1985–1991; William Ziff, New York, 1991–2014; Entwistle Gallery, Paris, September 2014. Wood, sacrifi cial patina. H: 124.5 cm.Photo: Andrea Rossetti.

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FIG. 11 (left): Reliquary guardian fi gure. Fang, Gabon.Ex Paul Guillaume, Paris, 1930s; John Graham or Frank Crowninshield, New York, 1930s; Hassoldt Davis, New York, until 1959 and then family; Norman Hurst, Cambridge; Christine Valluet and Yann Ferrandin, Paris, 1998; Bernard de Grunne, Brussels, 2004–2015.Wood, metal. H: 72 cm.Photo courtesy Bernard de Grunne.

FIG. 12 (right): Standing fi gure. Mumuye, Nigeria.Collected in situ by Jean-Michel Huguenin in 1967.Ex Jean-Michel Huguenin, Paris; Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris.Wood, pigment. H: 75 cm.Photo: Andrea Rossetti.

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imagined. I don’t buy a single work without his input.T. A. M.: You exclusively collect African art rather than in combination with Oceanic, American Indian, or the Taïno of your birthplace, Cuba. Many collectors are more diverse in this regard. Why just Africa?J. P.: My interest in classic African art is in part rooted in being from Cuba. While my family’s origins are Spanish, the culture of Africa is incredibly important to Cuba. Africa is as linked to Cuba as Spain is. I think that for me that link is part of what triggered my initial interest in African art, but it’s more than that. Classical African art inspires my interest and taste in all the other art forms that I admire, from contemporary and modern Western art, to classical Greek, Egyptian, and Roman art. I don’t really know how to explain it, but I don’t feel the same connection to classical art from other areas, although I can appreciate it. I think the only exception may be art from New Ireland, which I’m fi nding myself more and more attracted to. I could see starting to acquire some works from that area, but I don’t see how it could surpass my interest in African art.

T. A. M.: What is it in a given piece that speaks to you?J. P.: The great thing about African art is that there were so many directions that artists from the continent took in creating their works. When I fi rst saw my Kaka altarpiece with Lance Entwistle in Paris, I was completely fl oored. The ferociousness of the faces on the lower part of the sculpture topped with a curious male fi gure that has what look like wings for arms captivated me on fi rst sight. It’s such a powerful image, and the crusty sacrifi cial surface takes it to another level. I had never acquired a work with such a surface before, but now it’s something I really love. My large Igbo male headdress similarly stopped me in my tracks, but on this sculpture it was the large head and face that grabbed me. The exaggerated details and cubistic features make me smile every time I see it. With my large male Mumuye, it was the exaggerated and pointy earfl aps that fi rst interested me, but then the long, ribbon-like arms caught my attention too. With my Fang, it’s what is missing that spoke to me—the mouth has been scratched out, the nose is missing, and all that is left of the eyes are the pins that held the circular metal shapes. The surface is also incredible, still oozing oil from all the years that it was ritually used. I guess that if I had to identify one characteristic that appeals to me in African art and that all these works share, it would be a sense of inner strength and power. These are sculptures with a purpose. They weren’t created to decorate a space, they were created to command attention. They certainly have mine.

FIG. 13 (right): Male headcrest. Eket, Nigeria.Ex Alain Dufour, St. Maur, c. 1970; Lucien Van de Velde, Antwerp, c. 1970; Jacques Blanckaert, Brussels; Piet Blanckaert, Knokke, Belgium, 1991; Daniel Hourdé, Paris, July 2015; Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, September 2015.Wood. H: 64 cm.Photo: Andrea Rossetti.

JAVIER PERES

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