ZAK OVÉ. ‘Virulent Strain / Cepa virulenta’

Zak Ové (London, UK,1966) is an artist of transformation. Working across sculpture, painting, installation, film and photography, Ove’s art transforms everyday objects through a creative process of collage, appropriation and juxtaposition of forms, materials and colours. Raised between London and Trinidad and currently based in Gran Canaria, Ove’s practice is inspired by an exploration of the history, traditions and cultures of Carnival as a site of creativity and resistance. He is particularly interested in masking and masquerade as tools of self-emancipation and transformation. Ové’s artworks explore the interplay between Old World African cosmologies and the ‘potential futures’ of contemporary Black diaspora cultures.

A ‘virulent strain’ refers to a particularly powerful and deadly virus or pathogen that spreads quickly and attacks a host, transforming it and creating multiple new forms. The Covid-19 pandemic saw the notion of virulent strains enter into the lexicon of everyday life for millions of people across the globe, as new viral strains developed in response to the deployment of vaccines. In 2023, Zak Ové created Virulent Strain, a cast graphite and gold leaf sculpture modelled on a Kifwebe Luba mask from Congo. The work responded to the devastating impact of the Covid pandemic while also celebrating the strength or ‘virulence’ of cultural resistance in the African diaspora. It serves as a conceptual reference point for the exhibition.

As an artist of transformation Zak Ove collages multiple elements of Caribbean, African and European cultures — from music, to visual mediums like sculpture, photography, textiles — to create viral new forms. This exhibition at the CAAM presents a survey of key works and elements in Ove’s practice encompassing the early photographic work documenting multicultural London; the artist’s engagement with carnival communities and traditions in Trinidad resulting in the shift to object making; large scale sculptural works such as the celebrated Invisible Men series and the more recent work on textiles and abstraction.

Paul Goodwin
Curator