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Email PageWorks on Paper
February 18, 2006- March 18, 2006
Reception: February 18, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Ouattara Watts
Mike Weiss Gallery
520 W 24th St Ouattara Watts The Mad Masters 22 (2005) |
Born in Abidjan, West Africa, the artist has lived and worked in New York City for the past seventeen years. Ouattara’s work reflects his own multicultural identity and a lifetime of travel, and his unique iconography of imagery reaches far and wide, referencing his love for music and deep spirituality.
Using watercolor, Ouattara saturates handmade paper in a muted palate of earth tones, upon which he applies luminous, vibrant colors. Various cultural symbols painted in deep purples, blues, reds, yellows and oranges are synthesized into richly textured, lyrical compositions. Ouattara’s gesture is evident in every line - from his broad brushstrokes of color, to delicate webs sketched in pencil, the artist’s hand conveys a very personal expression.
The Mad Masters Series takes its title from the close relationship that is often thought to exist between madness and genius, wherein a gifted individual can seem to transcend the realm of ordinary states of being. The works in this series exhibit a similar quality: their improvisational mixture of vivid colors, abstract forms, and a multitude of symbols evokes something greater than the world we experience every day. In these drawings, animals and figures float among series of numbers and geometric shapes. Representations of feet and circular forms, along with compasses and clocks, allude to the artist’s itinerant nature and transcontinental journeys. The juxtaposition of various cultural signifiers demonstrates the interconnectedness of the world. Like so many aspects of contemporary society, the artist and his work exist outside of a specific nation or geographic boundary, and instead function as members of a larger, global community. As Ouattara has noted, his vision is not based on one specific country or continent, or by what is seen on a map. “It is wider than that,” he claims, “…it refers to the cosmos.”
Ouattara Watts moved to Paris in the late 1980s to study painting at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts. It was there were he was discovered by Jean-Michel Basquiat, who the brought the artist to New York City in 1988. Ouattara has exhibited at Gagosian, Leo Koenig, and Tracy Williams Gallery, and his work was featured in the 2002 Whitney Biennial. Ouattara’s work has also been shown at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and Documenta 11. In 2004, his paintings were presented in a joint exhibition at the Hood Museum of Art, which documented his close friendship and association with Basquiat. This is his first exhibition with Mike Weiss Gallery.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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