Art as Contextual Epistemology: A New Theoretical Perspective on Contemporary Avant-gardism in Africa

Art constitutes a framework for the generation of new knowledge that enables a sophisticated understanding of society. It is deconstructivist/interrogative thus leads to the creation of alternative narratives and realities derived from complex visual interpretation of the universe, societies and circumstances. In a cognitivist sense, beyond aesthetic emotions/visual appeal art constitutes an intellectual source of knowledge through in-depth analysis of form, content and context of any given artwork. The paper adopts discourse and iconographic analysis as methodologies to introduce a new uncovered phenomenon of Contemporary Avant-gardism in postcolonial African art based on knowledge generation tailored to enforce change. This is achieved by interrogating the ideologies, methodologies and visual configurations of the works of contemporary African artists such as El Anatsui, Olu Amoda, Brett Murray, Kudzanai Chiurai, Clem Akpang and others. Their works instigate new lines of inquiries/knowledge through a renewed but subtle bohemian approach to artifactuality and interpretation of contemporary Africa. The paper submits that by its evocative/expressive nature, art creates structures of knowledge through subjective and visual dialogues that foster knowing in different ways beyond language. And that in contemporary African art-space this new artistic ethos is deployed as a form of avant-gardism that underpins the rationale of African art created in the continent today. Keyword: Epistemology Alternative Realism, Avant-gardism, Contemporary Art, Africa, Epistemology Perspectives Received 03 February 2020 | Revised 26 October 2020 | Accepted 28 October 2020

structures of written communication. As Michael Polanyi succinctly opines, "we know more than we can tell" [1]; what Polanyi alludes to is the fact that knowledge comes in different forms, and that the forms of its creation differ greatly. Thus, language and its systems are inadequate to fully convey all that is known accurately to transmit contextual meanings effectively. Even though this is the case, the systemic institutionalisation of scientific knowledge continues to alienate other forms of knowledge generation. As the French philosopher Michel Foucault argues, "the history of thought, of knowledge, of philosophy, of literature, seems to be seeking and discovering, more and more discontinuities, whereas history itself appears to be abandoning other irruptive events in favor of stable structures" [2]. What Foucault  These theories have contributed to the liberation of the term knowledge from dominance by the propositional in scientific terms, and such liberation is a critical philosophical advancement in contemporary scholarship. It is now possible to seek knowledge or ways of knowing from multiple sources by interrogating and applying structures that lie outside language and its propositional frameworks. This embrace of various possibilities of understanding is a new development that allows the revelation of more in-depth knowledge about the universe, concepts, and ideas.
Art is one of those possibilities that provides more profound revelation and unique visual parameters of knowingit is a mechanism for the generation of knowledge, new forms of understanding, and an instrument for creating new alternative realities that further deconstruct the world around us. As a product of culture and society, art embodies societal value systems, philosophies, and cosmologies that can convey non-verbal ideas to onlookers. In contrast, as a conceptual/subjective tool, art conveys relative and individualistic interpretation of the universe, concepts, and ideas through interrogative visual dialogues that open philosophical windows into the artist's mind and thought processes. Art, therefore, is a potent tool for non-verbal communication and a non-scientific generation of knowledge capable of altering societal notions. This paper is thus focused on interrogating this epistemological framework in artistic expressionism with particular reference to contemporary African art as its main objective. It examines the underlying ideas, especially the desire to create and communicate new knowledge that inspires many African artists today. Finally, the paper examines how diverse inspirations coalesce into a unified artistic voice that draws viewers' attention to societal circumstances and challenges in Africa through complex and sometimes literal visual dialogues. Method

Iconographical Analysis
Iconography is the description, classification, and interpretation of the subject matter of a work of art. It is derived from the Greek words eikon, meaning image or icon, and graphia, meaning description, writing, or sketch. Its primary purpose is to understand and explicate the meaning behind what is represented. It involves the definition, classification or analysis of meaning or symbolism in the visual arts that take into account the tradition of pictorial motifs and their historical, cultural, and social meaning. Advanced in modern scholarship by Erwin Panofsky in 1939, iconographical analysis is used to deconstruct artworks to reveal their inner meanings. It enables the description of the factual (or expressional), understanding of the subject matter derived only from a familiarity with and knowledge of the themes and concepts represented and an intrinsic interrogation of meaning or content, constituting the world of symbolical values. Such deeper meanings are derived from the interrogation of form, written text, and understanding of semiotics [3]. This analytical tool is drawn upon to deconstruct referenced artworks in order to expose their hidden meanings and construct a discourse consistent in the works of many postcolonial African artists that revolve around knowledge generation and dissemination to tackle the problems of the African continent today.

Art, Knowledge, and Knowing
Art is the most dynamic and multifaceted field in the humanities, which defies a unified definition.
However, for this paper, reference is made to the description provided by the philosopher Eugene Kleinbauer. In his widely read book 'Modern Perspectives in Western Art History 1971' Kleinbauer describes art as the stylistic manipulation of any chosen media to express one's emotions, feelings, and thought processes, or to interrogate an idea/concept to reveal a subjective interpretation of reality and the universe. He goes further to define art as the production of a body of knowledge, most often using a set of technical skills, then concludes that art is a symbolic, immortal, and visual documentation of society [4]. What Kleinbauer's definition provides is an understanding that although art deals with aesthetic concerns, it also constitutes a compelling framework for knowing, expression, and exposition. Art, therefore, extends beyond the realm of technical/creative dexterity to an intellectual realm as a window into the artist's mind and his subjective revelations. Three variables from Kleinbauer's definition are crucial to understanding art as a mechanism for knowingfirstly, art interrogates, secondly it leads to the production of knowledge and thirdly, art is a reflection of society. In this sense, through the codification of meaning in visual form, art becomes an instigator of new ideas and perspectives through the creative interrogation and conceptualisation of ideas. Thus, the nature of art is not so much to aesthetically amuse or appeal, but to evoke [5]. alternative realities can come to be known. This is why Susanne Langer argues that every art expresses insight into what the artist knows and is a window to his expression to the world a structured insight into the nature of sentience, experiences, and ideologies for the world to know as well [6]. Such knowledge is not expressible in ordinary discourse because they are logically incommensurate, but rather more expressive through a series of complex visual structural manipulations and semiotics. Through such visual manipulation and semiotics, art provides alternative narratives and realities that constitute new perspectives through which we can perceive and experience the world. This knowledge-generating power of art as a paradigm of knowlege is further advanced by Elloit Eisner who in the essay Art and Knowledge 2008 argues that; The arts address the qualitative nuances of situations…in addressing what is subtle but significant, the arts develop dispositions and habits of mind that reveal to the individual a world he or she may not have noticed but that is there to be seen…Arts produces knowledge through empathic feeling. Through artistically expressive ways art creates such powerful image that as a result, we tend to see our world in terms of it, rather than it in terms of our world…finally, art provides fresh perspective so that our old habits of mind do not dominate our reactions with stock responses.
What we seek are new ways with which to perceive and interpret the world, ways that make vivid realities that would otherwise go unknownart provides that platform [7].

Contemporary African Avant-gardism: Art as Revelation
The art philosopher Jared Moore opines that art is a form of revelation that reveals a superior knowledge and force beyond the plastic manifestation of reality [8]. Contemporary African art is defined by this philosophy with its plethora of invented visual idioms. The emphasis in contemporary African art-space is on the production of art as a source of knowledge to reveal the existence of a certain adverse phenomenon in Africa not captured in literary or cinematic forms.    hyper-consumerism has and is transforming the continent into a pile of waste, thereby destroying its adverse physical landmark. Europe has now saturated Africa with used-goods so much so that the entire space is overtaken.
Through this work, the artist draws attention to the displacement of Africans by the uncontrolled dumping of European secondhand goods that forces Africans into migration, and questions the construed ideology of superiority tied to the consumption of foreign products in Africa. This problem is fuelled in part by the misleading view amongst Africans that the Europeanisation of oneself is a framework for identifying with civility and modernity. Still, in reality, it is merely an unwitting destruction of one's cultural identity and value system reflective of a strategy of imperialism in the 1900s.
The aforementioned artists through their works deconstruct the concept of neo-colonialism thus, enabling the masses to become aware of the many faces of neo-colonialism and most importantly the adverse effects of self-imposed cultural imperialism.

Conclusion
The new approach to artistic expressionism identified in the works of the artists indicates clearly a paradigm shift from concerns with aesthetics, a mere expression of emotions or the popular concept of art-for-arts-sake in the context of academic art, to a realm where art is considered a source of knowledge and a way of knowing through the creation of alternative realities/narratives/perspectives. This is evident in African arts today which thus, suffices to conclude that the arts constitute a fundamental part of being human, providing the tools for serious interaction and interrogation of the world by engaging with questions, formulating ideas, and deepening knowledge. Thus, all art is a way of knowing and a perspective of viewing.
Contemporary African artists derive impetus from this philosophy. They have opened up critical dialogues about postcolonial/contemporary existence through art in conceptually expressive ways that language and its relational structures are incapable of attaining. In this sense, through visual dialogue these artists draw viewers into contemplative meaning-making and understanding of society while at the same time defining a subtle form of avant-gardism that is non-radical as the new currency of contemporary African art.