Work avoidance: visiting the African Art gallery

I was back at the market today selling books and luckily I had company so I had time to leave the stall and walk around and visit some of the shops in the precinct where the market is held. Although the place I took these photos is called an art gallery, it's actually a shop, not an exhibition space so there is no explanation of the cultural significance of the art pieces you are looking at. The work is however very capable of speaking for itself.

Not pussycats but Leopards, associated with royalty and power all over Africa

What I do know is that most of the works on display are modern reproductions of older art from West Africa and the Congo. The craftsmanship is very good quality and perhaps it is being produced in the areas where it originated, I don't know.

Although there were many mounted masks and even woven handbags, I was most attracted to the wooden carvings and metalwork

The space was pretty full and the light bad so it was difficult to get good shots but I did what I could

A close-up of one the faces

I enjoy looking at the traditional art and another thing that always attracts me to these places is the smell of the wood and woven reed articles. I don't know why but I really love it

Overall, we had a reasonable day's trade and although it's work, the surroundings were pleasanter and I was better paid than my weekday work so I don't mind giving up on of my Sundays a month to do this, especially if I can also look at art. I'll post some of the other artwork on display over the next few months