IVORY COAST: IDENTITY AND VITALITY OF CONTEMPORARY ART

June 7 - September 16, 2018

Padiglione 9B
 
The Embassy of the Republic of Ivory Coast in Italy
presents at the Mattatoio of Rome the exhibition "Ivory Coast: identity and vitality of Contemporary Art", directed by Massimo Scaringella.

On view, a hundred works by 13 artists, already known on the international scene, which emerges in an unusual point of view connected to the representation of the identity of a vital and dynamic reality.
 

ARTISTS

Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Joana Choumali, Ananias Leki Dago, Ernest Dükü, Jacobleu, Mohammed Keita, Jems Koko Bi, Mathilde Moreau, Kra N’Guessan, Virginia Ryan, Jacques Samir Stenka, Joachim K. Silue, Ouattara Watts.

As great as the exhibition may be, it couldn't in any way exhaustively reflect an ever-changing search. That's why with the exhibition "Ivory Coast: Identity and vitality of contemporary art" have been highlighted some paths of a selection that tells us not just about some trends, thematic painting topics, but also some pursuits on the margins from  conceptual point of view.
They give to the spectator the basis for his personal ideal journey through the various languages of creative contemporaneity of a country which has always been among the makers of the African Continent culture. Just with the exploration within the different languages whereby contemporary art expresses itself you may understand the different creative realities in action in the current life of a country even when it reveals itself through some artists who in different occasions, and for various reasons, work outside the local context and have then been able to bring together different cultures that they have met on their way. In this way, the memory of the past and the suggestions typical of the homelands meet the evolutions of a global development not always compatible with the local reality and therefore full of contradictions, thus creating an imagined dimension that however does not cancel the link with the social and political reality of the country in which the artists have always felt strongly involved.
The artists who are the protagonists of this creative journey look at their origins and their being, choosing the ideal action, among proportions to contradict, colors to exhibit, words to suggest and oneiric signs to exalt.  They search a vision and a concept that are both authentical and natural, a pure meaning in which the centre of the shape creativity becomes more marked. And in doing so they reach the task of the artist again: the vision of a reality increasingly harsh.