« Langage de la transfiguration et de la mémoire dans la création des bustes en céramique »

Abstract

According to ISSEN Iris (1992), contemporary art is booming nowadays and has reached its peak in some countries like Japan especially with the minimalist sculptures. The delirium is in the exaggeration, both at the level of the sculptures and the paintings which are sometimes six meters high and four meters wide. We are gradually slipping into this movement of contemporary art and we are facing challenges that question our production and our contribution to the change in progress. Also, we have observed the monotony of ceramic artistic creation in Cameroon and in Yaoundé in particular. We wonder about the forms of renewal of the visual aspect of the ceramic art object. To deal with this plastic concern, we opted to draw inspiration from the Sao terracotta sculpture explored from the point of view of the concept of transfiguration. It is for this reason that the topic of our dissertation is entitled "Language of transfiguration and the memory of ceramic Sao busts." Transfiguration being a phenomenon linked to transformation, starting from the hypothesis that the ceramic object (bust) has the possibility of transfiguring, for example by the action of fire and assembly, is a perfect illustration of this. The transfiguration proposed in this study is an alternative to ceramic enameling in Cameroon. Our appropriation of the concept of transfiguration of memory in the artistic creation project that constitutes this memory is built little by little through visits to artists' studios. It was therefore during these visits that we made the connection between the means of coating ceramics such as enamelling, transfiguration and memory. This is our main preoccupation. How do we suggest the idea of transfiguration and memory through busts? We try to highlight an experimentation that is defined by a neutral expressiveness, a rough texture accompanied by codes and an effect of chance, thus resulting from the combination of several techniques among others such as modelling, assembly, collage, casting and beading. Our creative work is from the works we have produced which is experimental and provides material for undertaking other creative research and in-depth studies on the possibilities of coating and codifying by borrowing the symbols of memory in ceramics in Cameroon. Our research work consists of four chapters as follows. Chapter I is on the generality of Sao artistic creation: context of creation of the busts. Chapter II deals with materials: clay, polyamide, copper, and pearls as elements of plastic transfiguration. Chapter III approaches the design of the busts and the last chapter presents the transfiguration by coating and development.