New gallery:
Solange Mallett, above, is eager to introduce the Fillmore’s historically African American jazz district to the art of Africa.
Solange Mallett tours a visitor through African Plural Art, her newly opened African art gallery on Fillmore Street, and stops before two of her favorite objects in the calm, well- lit space. Both were made by the Dan tribe in her native Ivory Coast: a fierce, elongated hunter’s mask adorned with cowrie shells and fangs of red- dyed warthog teeth, and a large studded “spider mask” sticking out its tongue in either good humor or affront.
“It is impressive, isn’t it?” says Mallett, explaining
that the menacing 50year- old war mask’s ritual use “was to impress another tribe and bring conflict to an end.”
Like most of the artifacts in the 1,200- squarefoot space — textiles, sculptures, masks, and decorative and ritual objects acquired during Mallett’s annual trips to Sub- Saharan Africa — the Dan masks are both visually arresting as well as “objects with complicated meanings. They are both everyday and spiritual.”
Mallett, 42, whose primary language is French, moved to San Mateo two years ago from Paris, where she first established her gallery as a destination for both serious collectors of traditional tribal art and curious first- time buyers of decorative accents.
She is eager to introduce her new neighbors in the Fillmore’s historically African American Jazz Preservation District to her “passion for the art of Africa. I want people to look with open eyes.”
As owner of one of only a handful of Africanart galleries in the Bay Area, Mallett is eschewing an emphasis on high- priced antiques to instead “try to have something for anyone who sees something here — from an inexpensive table linen or woven bag to a mask, maternity statue or divination bowl — that makes them feel an emotional connection. That’s the most important thing.”
Q: How did you first get interested in African art?
A: I grew up in Abidjan ( Ivory Coast), and my interest started in my childhood. Later, when I lived in Madagascar, I helped raise money for a women’s cooperative and traveled back to Ivory Coast and sold all their baskets I had brought with me. I started learning as much as I could about the continent’s art. I became passionate because it is so fascinating. There are worlds of meanings in some objects. I am learning more all the time, and trying to share what I have learned with people here.
Q: Do you specialize in art from a particular country or region?
A: I studied Ivorian art because it is where I am from, specifically the art of the Dan and Baoule tribes that make many masks and sculptures. I also have a lot of art from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Mali.
It is interesting that people in the United States are most interested in masks, while in Europe people want statues.
Q: What brought you and your gallery to San Francisco’s Fillmore District?
A: I fell in love with San Francisco when I first visited in 2009, and it became my dream to live here someday. I liked the feel of many different cultures, the free spirit and open- mindedness.
My husband, a Frenchborn American citizen, works overseas for World Bank Projects developing micro- financing in developing countries. We lived for years in Madagascar, Chad and Tanzania and now have decided it’s time to stop traveling and have this adventure here.
It is important that I’m in an African American neighborhood, and I like a bohemian feel. It will hopefully be a good match with people wanting a new look for the Fillmore. Merchants have been welcoming and excited about what I am doing. They are thanking me for bringing this to the neighborhood.
Q: When you travel to Africa to acquire art, what do you look for?
A: Beauty and emotion in the work. And a feeling of connection within myself.
It is very, very personal. I look for what speaks to me and then others might see that as well.
Some people are introduced to African art because so many Western artists have been deeply influenced. Picasso was inspired by masks and this kind of cloth panting from a village in Khorogo in northern Ivory Coast. Sometimes when you hear the history, it becomes more beautiful, more meaningful.
Mostly, these works have private meanings. Unlike contemporary art, you will never know who the artist is when talking about traditional tribal art.
Most dealers sell African art with very high prices, antiques that most people cannot access. My goal is that there is something here for everyone. Maybe it looks weird to someone at first, or they have never heard of the tribe or the region or even the country of origin, but there are many levels of meaning to every object. Most importantly, you should feel something when you see it.