Aboudia - an Ivorian painter

Aboudia Septembre 2011

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Aboudia Born 21/10/1983 in Ivory Coast 1997: First price in school design contest “Paint your dream” 2002 – 2005: Art studies in Abidjan, Ivory Coast 2006 – 2007: One year internship at l’Academie des Arts, Abidjan 2007 – 2008: One year internship as interior designer, Abidjan Expositions: 2007: Group exhibition at Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Palais de la Culture 2008: Stage set design for the play “Îles de tempête” de Bernard Dadié, Abidjan 2009: Group exhibition at Centre Culturel Français, Abidjan, “Arkadi”, 12ème edition Solo exhibition at Centre Culturel Franco-Guinéen, Conakry, Guinea Group exhibition “Pinceaux d’Afrique”, Stockholm, Sweden 2010: Group exhibition at the Centre Culturel Français, Abidjan, “Arkadi”, 13ème edition Group exhibition “Lion’s Art”, Abidjan Group exhibition at the BICICI bank headquarters, friends of art, edition 6, Abidjan Group exhibition as part of the Ivorian 50th independence celebrations 2011: February: Aboudia is mentioned in a German TV ZDF documentary about the post election crisis in Ivory Coast (ZDF Infokanal) March: Moving to Villa Kaïdin as residence artist April: International press attention for his crisis and war paintings June 22 – Sept. 1: Solo exhibition at Jack Bell Gallery, London, UK July: First visit to London August: Saatchi Gallery, UK bought two canvases from Aboudia Sept. 7 – 9: Invitation of German Culture Centre Goethe Institute Johannesburg, South Africa for the conference “Über(W)unden – Art in troubled times” Sept. 9 – Oct. 10: Solo exposition at Goethe-Institute, Johannesburg September: Saatchi Gallery, UK bought two more canvases from Aboudia Sept. 22 – Oct. 29: Group exposition at Jack Bell Gallery, London (Les Fantomes) Sept. 29 – Dec. 29: Group exposition at Rotonde des Arts, Abidjan “Revue de l’Art Modern et Contemporain en Côte d’Ivoire” November: Solo exposition “New works” at Lab 2.0, Abidjan Dec. 1 – 10: Group exposition “Salon International des Arts Plastiques d’Abidjan”

Public purchases: Palais de la Culture, Abidjan Centre culturel Franco-Guinéen, Conakry, Guinea Embassy of Ivory Coast, Conakry, Guinea Governor of Abidjan City hall of Bingerville, Abidjan Permanent collection of the BICICI bank Permanent collection of the Saatchi Gallery, UK The work of Aboudia is mentioned in several art catalogues.

_________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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South Africa

From left to right: Opening of the exhibition in Goethe-Institute Johannesburg, 9.09.2011 Sketches during the conference, 7.09.2011 / Interview for a German Radio, 8.09.2011

From left to right: “without title”, 32 x 24 cm / 12,6’ x 9,45’, on paper, 11.09.2011 “without title”, 21 x 15 cm / 8,27’ x 5,91’, sketch in a Goethe pad, 7.09.2011 “without title”, 21 x 15 cm / 8,27’ x 5,91’, sketch in a Goethe pad, 7.09.2011 _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Times of Crisis Biographical notes

War is a hideous thing. It is the continuation of politics by ‚other‘means, said Churchill. I also know another war: daily survival. For years. And without nobody noticing. I am now 27 years old and since I was 15, I have been fighting for my survival, both my physical and artistic survival. This certainly molded me more than the period from January to April this year.

I left home early, left Abengourou, a city in the west, 240 km from the large city of Abidjan.

When I told my father I wanted to become an artist, he threw me out of the house; it was my mother who gave me her last savings – 15 000 CFA francs, about 22 Euros – in order to compete for a scholarship in Abidjan of over 33 000 CFA francs monthly. My mother – a simple woman, who works in the field from sunrise to sunset, who cannot read or write, but who gave me her blessing when I left.

With this money, I succeeded in coming top of my class, won a painting competition and in this way also my scholarship. I slept in the classroom when everyone else went home, and I got up before everyone arrived again in the morning. I made out that I also came from home, from a home I did not have. And again I was the best and I was hungry. The battle began.

My main subject was mural art, in essence ‚art on walls‘. I discovered the simple drawings scribbled by children on walls using charcoal mostly drawings of cars, televisions, wishes for a better life, status symbols, sayings. Children became my role model: the weakest, not taken seriously, shunned, alone in their world. They were and are my soul mates.

My style shifted from one that was classic and academic in nature, as well as highly influenced by African culture and decoration, into one increasingly influenced by wall scribbles. 2007, 2008. The years passed and mostly I was hungry. I carried my paintings on my head and marched for half a day from Bingerville to the centre of Abidjan where the galleries are. For the most part, they simply turfed me out again. I marched half a day back, not having the 75 euro cents for transport, let alone for food. Sometimes I painted pictures for plates of attieké1. I did internships in decoration.

I had my first job and earned little money. Mocked and ridiculed for my style of painting, I struggled along using all means possible – but I did not give up. The first whites, ambassadors, gallery owners in other countries bought my paintings. I seldom saw anything of the money. My aunt, with whom I lived and to whom I gave the cheques, kept the money, considering it her due since I lived and ate under her roof. Certainly the most expensive accommodation in Abidjan.

In December 2010, although the war was not yet really in sight after the second round of voting in the presidential elections - Laurent Gbagbo vs ADO, Alassane Ouattara - the tension was mounting.

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A couscous-like staple food produced from manioc (as opposed to wheat in the case of couscous)

_________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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I lived in a 10-m² studio without a shower and toilet and still had four paintings. And as always, little to eat and naturally no money.

A German man saw my paintings on the internet, on the Facebook page of a friend of mine.

He came to my studio and immediately agreed to pay me a monthly sum, half for material and half for me. I began to work on the looming crisis, first on paper then on canvas. I captured the everyday, my environment, my context. A German television station did a report on me in February, which resulted in the first enquiries from Germany. I now had money and the crisis intensified. I moved into my new agent’s villa. My name was heard frequently in the north, dangerous at a time when people were being burnt alive in the streets. I hardly ventured out of the house anymore and painted large-sized paintings, up to four by two meters - paintings of the crisis and later of the war. I was not scared; I felt safe. The war began on 31 March 2011. Suddenly, unexpectedly, shots could be heard at 9.30 am, not scattered as in the previous few days and weeks, but intense, indicating obvious battles and armed conflicts.

Boom, boom…boom, boom, boom. In between, heavy gunfire from 12/7 machine guns, mounted on open pickups, and always the repetitive, heavy ‚BOOM‘ from the three-legged Obus mounted on the ground. During the first days, I was, of course, not yet familiar with these names, but I learned them quickly and am certain that I will still be able to distinguish between the sounds of these weapons until the day I die.

That Thursday, 31 March caught us off guard, and everything now took place around the house. This would last for 12 days. Today I know that it was only the shadows of a war, not a real war. At the time though, when you do not know when it will end, you perceive it as war and yourself as a rather helpless victim. The worst moments were those at night when fighting ceased, when we were scared of looting. It was an easy thing to die in those days.

There is a basement in the villa, the room of my agent’s domestic worker – my agent, for his part, being trapped in his office in another part of the city. When the machine-gun fire gave way to heavy artillery, we fled to the basement. After 5 days, I was no longer scared of machine-gun fire. I painted in my workshop, while 12 meters away – in front of the chest-high wall surrounding the property – a battle was being fought. When I peered over the wall during lulls in the fighting, I saw the wounded and the dead. It was then that I learned that corpses are burned in three stages. Generally, they would lie there for one, two days where they died.

Then someone from the neighborhood would come and lay tires, polystyrene or something similar over the body and set the lot alight. This would produce nasty black smoke for two hours. And fat blowflies all over the house. The next day, wood and rubbish were placed on the remains and burnt. The smoke was not as black, the stench not as noxious; there was only a little remaining meat on the bones; the cartilage was already partly burnt, the skeleton barely recognizable as a once cohesive shape. On the third day, all that remained was a heap of ashes, with a few solid elements. This produced a small fire, since most of the remains had already been swept into the drain or scattered in the bushes on the side of the road.

I believe that many of the Kri-Kri combatants from the north ended their lives namelessly in Abidjan’s sewer system. _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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On 11 April 2011, former President Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone were ‚arrested‘. We heard only scattered fire. On the next day save one, my agent came home, accompanied by

FRCI soldiers, without whose protective presence one could no longer move around freely.

They would escort him like that for another week. The streets were still full of corpses and he told us of the destruction in our quarter. I did not leave the house until 22 April – the day on which I went to fetch a poulet braisé2 again for the first time in weeks. I had painted 21 canvases, the smallest being 120 x 80 cm, the two largest, 400 x 180 cm. My agent was of the opinion that I should paint in large dimensions – and he was proved right. Finbarr O’Reilly, a photographer for Reuters, arrived on 17 April; two days later, the world was reporting on the artist who had documented his country’s war during the blaze of gunfire in L’Express, Paris Match, Yahoo worldwide, in the NY Times, The Standard, in Russian, Italian, German and American newspapers. We found articles on Google in Chinese, Malay and in Cyrillic characters. 50? More, probably. Reuters TV came, Canal+, France 24. ARTE arrived with a team on 20 April. And John James, BBC Correspondent. He changed my life; or rather Jack Bell ultimately changed my life. He made contact with us through John James in May and proposed an exhibition in his London gallery from 22 June to 1 September in other words immediately. My agent flew to Europe to discuss the details and Craig Hitchcock compiled a dossier for my visa application for England. I am 27 years old. I am an artist. A few months ago, I did not know what I was to eat. Today I was in London where the world-renowned Saatchi Gallery bought two of my paintings for its permanent collection. I am in South Africa. The war is over and I survived it well. None of my friends or my family was hurt, and I am again painting about and with my children from the streets. The war and the crisis preceding it were an episode that I documented, no more and no less.

Aboudia Abidjan, Ivory Coast August 2011

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Braised chicken

_________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Works 2011

_________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Wrapping paper

“Les Angels”, collage, chalks and crayon on wrapping paper 70 x 85 cm / 27,56’ x 33,46’, between 26th – 28th August 2011

From left to right: “Suggs Gallery”, 65 x 95 cm / 25,59’ x 37,4’ / “Gauloises”, 65 x 70 cm / 25,59’ x 27,56’ / “King sitting”, 65 x 70 cm / 25,59’ x 27,56’ All collage, chalks and crayon on wrapping paper, all between 26th – 28th August 2011 _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Wrapping paper

“What did I eat for lunch?”, collage, chalks and crayon on wrapping paper 65 x 85 cm / 25,59’ x 33,46’, between 26th – 28th August 2011

From left to right: “Rusty Brown”, 65 x 75 cm / 25,59’ x 29,53’ / “Pure Evil”, 65 x 75 cm / 25,59’ x 29,53’ / “Primitive Arts”, 65 x 65 cm / 25,59’ x 29,59’ All collage, chalks and crayon on wrapping paper, all between 26th – 28th August 2011 _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Collages on canvas

“without title”, collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas 100 x 120 cm / 39,37’ x 47,24’, August 17, 2011

From left to right: “ART”, August 16, 2011 / “White Girl”, August 23 – 26, 2011 / “Zongo”, August 22, 2011 All collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas, each 100 x 120 cm / 39,37’ x 47,24’ _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Collages on canvas

“Please draw”, collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas 100 x 120 cm / 39,37’ x 47,24’, August 16, 2011

From left to right: “BOM”, August 8, 2011 / “Horace Andy”, August 21, 2011 / “The dogfather”, August 17, 2011 All collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas, each 100 x 120 cm / 39,37’ x 47,24’ _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Canvas

“Take me” (Diptych), collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas Total size: 280 x 120 cm / 39,37’ x 47,24’, August 7, 2011

“Wall in Treichville” (Diptych), collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas Total size: 280 x 120 cm / 39,37’ x 47,24’, August 4, 2011

From left to right: “Zone 4”, August 5, 2011 / “Take me”, August 3, 2011 / “Revolution”, August 8, 2011 All collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas, each 140 x 120 cm / 55,12’ x 47,24’ _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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London paperwork

“The Pimpernel”, collage and crayon on wrapping / decoration paper 50 x 70 cm / 19,69’ x 27,56’, July 19, 2011

From left to right: “Shop shop”, July 19, 2011 / “Portrait Jack Bell”, July 19, 2011 / “London State”, July 21, 2011 All collage and crayon on wrapping / decoration paper, each 50 x 70 cm / 19,69’ x 27,56’ _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Canvas after the war

“Adjam Tala City”, collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas 140 x 120 cm / 55,12’ x 47,24’, May 8, 2011

From left to right: “Aboudia”, May 7, 2011 / “Aboudia”, May 3, 2011 / “Rush”, April 29, 2011 All collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas, each 140 x 120 cm / 55,12’ x 47,24’ _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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War

“Daloa 29”, collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas 400 x 180 cm / 157,48’ x 70,87’, March 28 – April 8, 2011

“(without title / black painting) Doékoue”, collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas 400 x 180 cm / 157,48’ x 70,87’, April 22, 2011

These two works are bought – among others – by the Saatchi Gallery, UK _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Crisis

“Election poison”, collage, mixed media and acrylic on canvas 237 x 118 cm / 93,3’ x 46,46’, March 18, 2011

“ONUCI II”, collage (photo), mixed media and acrylic on canvas 237 x 118 cm / 93,3’ x 46,46’, March 20, 2011

_________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Before crisis and war

“Don’t piss – gets you in trouble”, mixed media and acrylic on canvas 90 x 90 cm / 35,43’ x 35,43’, 2010

_________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Selected press 20.12.2010 Demotix, News agency http://www.demotix.com/news/556645/ivory-coast-civil-war-drawings-artist-aboudia 12.02.2011 ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen / German TV); Report about Aboudia in a documentary about the political situation in the Côte d‘Ivoire

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/1256092/Das-gelaehmteLand#/beitrag/video/1256092/Das-gelaehmte-Land 4.03.2011 France Actu net http://franceactu.net/30395-Cote-d-039-Ivoire-Can-The-Calls-for-Peace-be-Heard?lang=fr 19.04.2011 AlertNet / Reuters http://www.trust.org/alertnet/multimedia/pictures/detail.dot?mediaInode=a362a416-3c1347be-ad0e-c8239954163a 19.04.2011 News ageny Reuters / Photoblog Finbarr O‘Reilly http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/19/6498181-as-fighting-raged-in-ivorycoast-painter-captured-the-upheaval-on-canvas 20.04.2011 The Telegraph, UK http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/8463144/Pictures-of-theday-20-April-2011.html?image=25 21.04.2011 L’Express, France http://www.lexpress.fr/diaporama/diapo-photo/actualite/monde/aboudia-peintre-de-la-guerrecivile-ivoirienne_984777.html?p=2 23.04.2011 Der Standard, Austria http://derstandard.at/1303291203813/Der-Basquiat-der-Cote-dIvoire-Ivorischer-Kuenstlerverarbeitet-juengste-Gewalt-um-Praesidentenamt-in-seinen-Bildern 28.04.2011 BBC Africa http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13215834 6.05.2011 ARTE TV German: http://www.arte.tv/de/3890942.html French: http://www.arte.tv/fr/Comprendre-le-monde/arte-journal/nav/3890942.html 11.05.2011 France 24, Interview with Aboudia by Ségolène Maltere http://observers.france24.com/fr/content/20110511-aboudia-raconte-guerre-civile-toilespeinture-abidjan-onuci-art-cote-ivoire 21.06.2011 Designweek, UK http://www.designweek.co.uk/home/blog/the-battle-for-abidjan/3027672.article July 2011 Dazed Digital, Interview http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/10857/1/the-battle-for-abidjan 26.08.2011 African Colours http://www.africancolours.com/african-artnews/937/c%C3%B4te%20d%27ivoire/political_and_social_dysfunction_without_borders_% E2%80%93_the_battle_for_abidjan_in_london.htm 2.09.2011 South African Art Times http://www.arttimes.co.za/news_read.php?news_id=4816 21.09.2011 African Art in London http://africanartinlondon.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/les-fantomes-jack-bell-gallery Saatchi Gallery, UK http://www.saatchigallery.co.uk/artists/aboudia_abdoulaye_diarrassouba.htm?section_name=paint_artist _________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Interview France 24, France

Interview with Ségolène Maltere

11.05.2011

Vivid paintings depict months of bloody civil conflict While many Ivorian artists fled the violent civil strife that was sparked by November’s disputed presidential elections, one painter stayed in the country, determined to express his wartime experience.

Aboudia, 27, a painter lives and works in the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan, where weeks of a bloody conflict between forces loyal to former leader Laurent Gbagbo and supporters of President Alassane Ouattara have recently come to an end.

Aboudia graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Bingerville, east of Abidjan, in 2003. His vivid contemporary canvases have been exhibited in Guinea, the Netherlands, Sweden the Ivory Coast as well as online, most notably on the photo-sharing website Flickr.

Contributors "I could hear the bullets zipping through the air as I painted" Aboudia is a contemporary artist from Abidjan.

I wouldn’t call myself a war painter, but when the fighting got really bad in Abidjan I felt compelled to convey what I saw in my paintings. My work was similar to that of a journalist writing an article: I was simply describing a situation, in order to create a record of my country’s recent history. If it can help people remember what happened these past months, that’s good, but above all I painted these works for myself.

While some artists chose to flee the civil war, I decided to stay and continue working despite the danger. I worked in an artist’s studio right next to the Golf Hotel [Ouattara’s headquarters during the post-electoral crisis], I could hear the bullets zipping through the air while I painted. When the shooting got too heavy, I hid in the cellar and I tried to imagine what was going on. As soon as things calmed down I would go back upstairs and paint everything I had in mind. Whenever I was able to go outside, I would paint everything I saw as soon as I returned. Some of my paintings were also inspired from footage I saw on the news or the Internet.

Most shops were closed for months during the crisis, so paint and other material was scarce.

When I ran out of a certain colour, I would try to recreate it by mixing the little paint I had left. I also did a lot of scavenging for material for my paintings.

"My role is to observe and paint. If I can’t do that, then I’m lost" This painting is the first in a series I made. It came at the very start of the unrest. Its title, “Election Poison”, meant that the loser should have accepted his defeat fairly. I don’t support any specific party, and I did my best to keep out of the conflict. Throughout the crisis, I went outdoors with a white band on my wrist to stress the point that I was an apolitical civilian. That’s why I didn’t paint any politician’s names on the canvases, because everyone has his share of responsibility in the conflict. My role is to observe and paint. If I can’t do that, then I’m lost.

I particularly like this painting because its colours are very joyful, despite the colours of the crisis it depicts. During the months of conflict, there were some positive moments, like when UN patrols came to ask us if we had enough food or whether we wanted to be evacuated. It was a heart-warming relief to most people to know that we weren’t abandoned, and I wanted to express that in my painting. In the background, you can see houses covered in bullet marks. It looks like they are crying.

Today I put away my war paint brushes, and I’m once again painting people’s small, everyday joys. I’ve started going back to see the children of Abobo station.”

_________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96

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Internet / Contact Facebook: Flickr:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aboudia/153846864667390 http://www.flickr.com/abobogare

Tel.: Mail:

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96 abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

_________________________________________________________________________ Aboudia

Côte d’Ivoire

abobogare.artgallery@yahoo.com

+225 – 07 – 55 47 96