Jacques Yves BRUEL (1948-2010), "Terres d'Afrique", set of twelve plastic masks (cut-out cans) with traces of paint. H. 30 to 34 cm Provenance: Catherine Clerc-de Goumoens Collection Reference: Exhibition: "Bruel l'acien au pays des pur", Carré des Arts, 28 January-14 March 1993, Paris Note: Jacques Yves Bruel began his career as artistic director with the Temps Public communications agency headed by Jacques Pilhan, and contributed to François Mitterrand's presidential campaign in 1981. After this experience, he returned to sculpture and focused his artistic research on North-South issues, exploring in particular the notion of the "zero degree of the economy". One of his most emblematic works is the diversion of cans into masks made from the upper part of plastic cans - which he calls masques-bidons or Pur-Purs. In 1986, he exhibited these pieces for the first time at the Galerie Cordier in Lyon. Called Pur-Purs because they were discovered in the Central African Republic and then in Benin, and presented as they were, without retouching, these objects are pure ready-mades, a fusion of art brut and political gesture.