Known primarily for his works on canvas, Nzante Spee (1953-2005) was an artist whose practice was deeply rooted in the political urgencies of human and other-than-human conditions. Hailing from his native Northwest region in Cameroon, Spee narrated stories through his dynamic use of colors, bold compositions, and complex symbolisms, often depicted against a surrealistic background in which human bodies, plants, geometric forms, and patterns are fragmented, abstracted, reconfigured and transformed into something new. Throughout his artistic journey, Spee conjugated several universes alongside each other and developed a unique visual language he named the Melting Age. The term could be understood as a reference to how several worlds get into contact with each other, and the ability time has to bear witness to the resulting and multiple ways of inhabiting these worlds.

Presented in the 36th Bienal de São Paulo are works produced in the last decade of the 20th century, using acrylic or oil on canvas, with themes such as ecology, nature, and music predominantly recurring. In pieces such as The Woodcutter – The Destruction of our Environment Gently Destroys Us Like Every Cigarette We Smoke (1995), The Wahdoosee Question (1994), David and Goliath (1995), and Le Paradis des antilopes [The Paradise of the Antelopes] (1994), the artist draws our attention to the complexified relationship between humanity and nature, and to the impact nefarious human actions such as deforestation have on the environment and consequently on all living beings. Other works such as Echoes of Music (1994), Music Trio Band (1995), and The Drummer and the Dancers (1995) bear testimony to Spee’s passion for music. Realized in his characteristic signature style of symbolist and surrealist abstraction, the scenes depicted on these canvases reminisce about the night sessions in the local spots such as bars, nightclubs, or “circuits,” as they are commonly called in Pidgin English. It is an acknowledgment of these spaces as important vectors and components that form the fabric of various societies, hence hinting at the artist’s desire to reconcile art with various aspects of life, because “Art is life… politics is art, money is art, and lots of other things. Even witchcraft is art,” as Nzante Spee asserted.