africanah.org

Arena for Contemporary African, African-American and Caribbean Art

Dak’Art 2016: Ouattara Watts

OWVERTIGO-11-_-260-x-200-cm-2011-1024x791

 

OUATTARA WATTS is one of the artist in the next Dak’Art in Dakar, Senegal

 Vertigo 11, 2011.

About:

BEFORE LOOKING AT THIS WORK, LISTEN TO IT.

OWVERTIGO-12-_2oo-x-260-cm-2012-Mixed-media-1024x791

Vertigo 12, 2012.
“HE IS NOT A PAINTER OUATTARA WATTS IS THE BLACK ARCHITECTE” THE BUILDER OF THE CITY OF THE 21ST CENTURY, A CITY OF REUNION, OF ASSOCIATION, AND NOT OF DIVISION, IS WHAT ONE FINDS IN THE VERY STRUCTURE OF HIS PAINTING, FOR A REASON. NOT A DUALITY, CONCURRENT FORCES WHICH INTERACT AND WHICH INTERACT WITH IS, A CONSTRUCTION TO WHICH DECONSTRUCTION PARTICIPATES (SEE THE BACKGROUND OF CANVASES OF OUATTARA WHICH EVOKE A UNIVERSE OF CHAOS BUT ALSO OF ENERGY). TO BECOME AWARE THAT WE TAKE PART IN THIS ALL.
Robert Farris Thompson
OWUntitled1996
Untitled,1996.

Ouattara Watts was born in Abidjan. He studied at L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux- Arts Paris. Live and Work In New York
Ouattara Watts has exhibited at MoMA PS1, the Whitney Biennale, and the New Museum in New York. He has also held solo exhibitions at various institutions and galleries including: Hess Art Collection,San Fransisco usa and Paarl, South Africa; Magazzino d’arte Moderna, Rome, Italy; Galeria Leyendeker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canay Island, Spain; The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Leo Koenig, New York, NY; Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO; The Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO; Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY; and, Documenta in Kassel,Germany Berkeley museum, San Fransisco USA. Japon and elsewhere.

OWVERTIGO-8-_-222-x-283-Cm-Mixed-Media-2011-1024x812

Vertigo 8, 2011.

In other words, Ouattara Watts is a citizen of the world. As he puts it, “There’s no point being a painter if your work doesn’t speak to people everywhere.” His does.