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BASSECK MANKABU
Collagist, painter, sculpturist
At the “Feira da Ladra” flea market in Lisbon, you’ll find some real gems hidden amongst old and used objects. This is where we find Basseck Mankabu, who sells his beautiful composed collages underneath an archway.
Basseck doesn’t see himself as an artist. He was born and raised by his grandmother in a tribe called “Mancanhé'' in the West African Republic of Guinea-Bissau, and he sees his art as a way of taking what’s inside of him that “needs to come out.”
Utilizing scissors, blades, glue, acrylic, oil, wax, watercolour and different kinds of pencil, Basseck is simply expressing his emotions: “Everything that I create is in a primitive way, i´m just exploring my creativity,” he told us. ...
He said that he works with no concrete concepts or ideas. However, the indigenous, natural and sometimes cosmic touch of his hand-made works can be traced back to his main source of image pieces: old analogue magazines of ‘National Geographic’ he finds on flea markets, the internet or through friends.
Next to his collages, the self-taught artist has also been a painter, ever since he can remember. During quarantine, Basseck started to try sculpting with different kinds of wood. If you dig his work and want to support him feel free to send him a DM, he’ll send his art to any place in the world.
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