Material Matters (Li3, Fe26, Co27, Cu29, Zn30, Ag47, Sn50, Au79, Pb82, U92)
Series of 10 wall chart paintings
Maarten Vanden Eynde and Musasa (Belgium / Democratic Republic of Congo)
2018-2019
Material Matters is a series of 10 paintings that present a selection of naturally occurring chemical elements on earth such as gold, uranium, lithium and copper. For each element, various drawings, pictograms and symbols form a visual rebus, or a summary of origin, transformation and influence, using a universal visual language that draws on old school diagrams. The paintings are made in DR Congo with Lubumbashi artist Musasa. Most of the elements represented have a predominant relationship with DR Congo, either by their origin, or by their scarcity and/or abundance.
Edmond Musasa Leu N’seya (Musasa) is an artist, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Lubumbashi where he teaches today. He specializes in figurative painting and most often chooses village themes illustrating the habits, rules and systems of thought governing the functioning of ancient societies. He remains faithful to the technique of oil painting and flat compositions without desire for perspective. Musasa has developed much of the visual language used at the National Museum of Lubumbashi, explaining the origin and use of a variety of natural and industrial materials and processes.
Since 2015, he collaborates with the artist Maarten Vanden Eynde on various projects, including “Material Matters” as part of the On-Trade-Off project, a series of paintings that represent naturally occurring elements as part of the Periodic Table of Mendeleev. The painted wall charts imagine a universal language using only drawings, pictographs and symbols like a visual rebus, summarizing the origin, use and influence of different materials.
