Soly Cisse Lost Worlds
M.I.A GALLERY
Soly Cisse LOST WORLDS
presented by
M.I.A GALLERY
Cover Lost world, 2010 Credits Soly Cisse M.I.A Gallery Diabel Thiam (portraits) Printed by
Š 2012 M.I.A Gallery All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. May 2012
INTRODUCTION Soly Cissé is an artist in constant cessation and reconciliation with the world. Soly Cissé plays and confuses the public by introducing hybrid creatures of both human and animal shapes. Born in 1969, Cissé graduated with honors from the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts of Dakar, Senegal, and immediately started showing his work in France, Germany, Italy and England… In 2006, he exhibits at the Centre Pompidou as part of the “Africa Remix” touring exhibition. With each stroke he releases himself from the burden of history and a society too far gone on the path of self-destruction. He denounces the excesses and the loss of values. His art is real; Soly Cissé is a painter of the universe. . His painting is poetic and brutal; it is contemporary and universal. For his first exhibition in the US – Lost worlds - Cissé embarks us on a journey around the theme of the inevitable duality of good and evil, of dream and reality, and of tradition and modernity. Soly Cissé paints the human drama on a black background. He started painting on used X-rays his father, a military doctor, threw away when he didn’t have any more use for them. Young Soly painted on those thinking he could heal the broken bones of the wounded soldiers. He has since then used the black background on which he adds imaginary protagonist. Cissé’s paintings are dreams that reveal a tragic beauty. He calls on spirits, genies and animals and other mythological creatures to heal the world we are living in and find salvation. Cissé is a modern day’s hunter of spirits. He is also the messenger and he travels between these worlds; it is no coincidence he portrays himself in his own paintings. It allows him to observe and be observed in these worlds he is trying to capture as he tries to prevent chaos. A series of flamboyant images, symbols, numbers, words and silhouettes that intermingle. Abstract yet accurate, the forms vary in the dark. Soly Cissé does not paint to be evident; it is providence that guides his brush. Each brushstroke ends with a beginning, a rebirth. While Soly Cissé clearly represents the new wave of contemporary African artist - tending towards modernity and universality - he is never too remote from nature and ancient customs. He wonders about the future and about his legacy for next generations. Soly Cissé is an idealist, a dreamer and non-conformist painter. His art is his fight, his resistance, his way of coexisting in these many worlds. Mariane Lenhardt
RECENT WORKS
Soly Cissé, Genies 2011 Acrylic on canvas 60”x60” (150x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Sacrifice, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 60”x60” (150x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Genies 2011 Acrylic on canvas 60”x60” (150x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Storm 1, 2012 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 40” (100x100cm)
Soly Cissé, Storm 2, 2012 Acrylic on canvas 60”x 60” (100x100cm)
Soly Cissé, Storm 3, 2012 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 40” (100x100cm)
Soly Cissé, Storm 4, 2012 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 40” (100x100cm)
Soly Cissé, Pink Men, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Burning Man, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Taking Off, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (60x80cm)
Soly Cissé, Untitled, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (60x80cm)
Soly Cissé, Red, 2012 Collages: Pastels and acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Blue Face, 2012 Collages: Pastels and acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Red, 2012 Collages: Pastels and acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
Soly Cissé, Red, 2012 Collages: Pastels and acrylic on canvas 40”x 60” (100x150cm)
SOLY CISSE
1969 Born in Dakar 1996 Graduated Beaux Arts of Dakar 1999 Sao Paulo Biennale 2000 Dak’Art 2000; Biennale de dakar 2001 Prix de la Francophonie Montreal 2004 -2006 Africa Remix, Centre pompidou, Paris
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 Soly Cissé – Maquillage, Fortezza del Girifalco, Cortona / Italy 2008 IFAN Museum, Dakar, Sénégal 2007 Soly Cissé - Être pour devenir”, Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris, France 2006 Soly Cissé - Oeuvres Récentes”, Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris, France “Soly Cissé, Célébration du centenaire de la naissance de Senghor’, Verson, France 2005 Soly Cissé – Le Monde perdu”, Centro per l´Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy Agence Française de Développement, Paris, France Champs Libres Afrique, ORCCA, Marnay sur Seine, France 2004 ARCO 2004, Madrid / Spain “Animismes” Galerie DA Vinci, Nice / France 2002 Multicultural 2002”, La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain) Biennale DAK’ART, Dakar (Senegal) KuBa Kunsthalle, Wolfenbüttel (Germany) 2001 Galerie ATISS, Dakar, Sénégal 2001 Prix de la francophonie in Montreal, (Canada) 1999 Solo exhibition at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne, Germany 1997 Centre culturel Francais, Dakar, Sénégal
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2007 TRANS CAPE – Contemporary African Art on the move”, Cape Town, South Africa Terre Noire – Ousmane Sow et les tendances de la sculpture africaine d’aujourd’hui”, Musée Départemental Maurice Denis, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France 2006 Africa Remix/Contemporary Art of a Continent”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo Japan “7ème Biennale de l’art africain contemporain Dak’Art 2006 Dakar, Sénégal “Des Hommes sans Histoire?”, Musée des Arts Derniers,ParisFrance “Artistes du Sénégal”, Musée Dapper, Paris, France Expressions africaines, Printemps”, Bd Haussmann, Paris, France 2005 Foire Internationale des Arts Derniers: Les Afriques 2” Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris, France “Africa Urbis: Perspectives Urbaines” Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris, France “Création contemporaine au Sénégal” Galerie Le Manège, Dakar, Sénégal 2004 - 2005 Africa Remix/Zeitgenössische Kunst einer Kontinents/Contemporary Art of a Continent/Art contemporain d’un continent” Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany Hayward Gallery, London, UK Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France 2004 L’Art dans la ville - Out in Africa”, Saint-étienne, France ARCO 2004 ARCO 2004, Madrid / Spain “Animismes” Galerie DA Vinci, Nice / France 2003 Orangerie, Grugapark Essen (Germany) Viterra Energy Services GmbH & Co. KG, Münster (Germany) Plasticiens en mouvement, De Markten, Brussells (Belgium) Exhibition L’Europe fantôme, Espace Vertebra, Brussells (Belgium) 2002 Multicultural 2002”, La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain) Biennale DAK’ART, Dakar (Senegal) KuBa Kunsthalle, Wolfenbüttel (Germany)
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