HYACINTHE OUATTARA
HYACINTHE OUATTARA was born in 1981 in Burkina Faso.
He is a self-taught visual artist. and currently lives in France. After several workshop experiences, with training in life drawing, Hyacinthe Ouattara first represented the human body in a dreamlike, ghostly and childlike way before penetrating its entrails and focusing his work on the anatomy of cellular tissues through "human cartographies".
Material, texture and colour are of great importance in his paintings.
His drawings are spontaneous, gestural and question the human being, sometimes a patchwork appears. His installations often play with suspensions, questioning balance and instability. They are also a reflection on memory and, as he focuses on textiles, on an organic aspect.
Textiles also allow him to question the ambivalence between appearance and disappearance, representation and intimacy and identity in the broadest sense. His sculptures consist of twisted and knotted textiles that take up this obsession with the organic and question the notion of connection. He has participated in exhibitions in Paris, Berlin, Dakar, Ouagadougou, Accra, Luxembourg, Kalgoorlie and more.
SOLO SHOWS (SELECTION)
2022
Une odyssée de l'espace, AFIKARIS Gallery, Paris, France
Habiter le monde qui nous habite, Fondation H, Paris, France
2020
Organic Mood, D Gallery, Paris, France
Revival, AFIKARIS Gallery, Paris, France
2017
Voyages, Cultural Centre Max Juclier, Villeneuve-la-Garenne, France
Cartographies, Galerie Art-z, Paris, France
2016
Cabinet de curiosités, Galerie sometimeStudio, Paris, France
2015
Parcours, Ecole Municipale des Beaux-Arts, Villejuif, France
2013
YAALA, Alliance Française Accra, Ghana
Hyacinthe Ouattara dans l'arène, Institut Français, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
2012
Dessins, Goethe Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Promenade, Villa Yiri Suma, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
GROUP SHOWS (SELECTION)
2022
AKAA Art Fair, Paris, France
Biennale of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, RD Congo
Classique!, Galerie AFIKARIS, Paris, France
Forger, In of the Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal
2021
La poésie du lien, duo show with Saïdou Dicko, AFIKARIS Gallery, Paris, France
2020
Un monde d'abstraction, Galerie 193, Paris, France
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa
2019
Yeux vers l'Est, Biennale du Caire 13, Cairo, Egypt
2018
Sans titre, DAK'ART OFF, Dakar, Senegal
AKAA Art Fair, Paris, France
Dubaï Art Fair, Dubaï, United Arab Emirates
2016
La fabrique culturelle des abattoirs, Casablanca, Morocco
L'ALCHIMIE DES FORMES, Espace Bastides, Valence-Sur-Baïse, France
ART COP 22, Marrakech, Morocco
2015
FAIRE DE L'ART, Galerie Joseph, Paris, France
2014
17th Biennale Internationale "Petit Format de Papier", Musée du Petit Format, Nismes et ULB Culture, Brussels, Belgium
2012
WAKATSÔNGO, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin, Germany
2011
Ouagadougou ! Soit dit en passant-Nebenbei bemerkt, HBK Saar (Ho chuleschule der Bildenden Kunste Saar) Gallery, Sarrebruck, Germany
2010
Encres et pailles, Goethe Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Art From West Africa, Kargoorlie/Perth, Australia
YOU OFTEN WORK WITH SERIES. WHY?
I work like a musician. I compose my series of artworks in a manner akin to the production of a record. Each embodies an aesthetic, social or philosophical area of research and exploration, whilst still supplementing one another and echoing similar messages and feelings.
HOW DID YOU HAVE THE IDEA TO DRAW "HUMAN CARTOGRAPHIES"? WHAT DO THEY REPRESENT FOR YOU?
This idea of human cartographies came to me in 2015 when I started to observe the Parisian urban space. When I was going out and taking public transport, I was observing the corridors of the Parisian metro and I had a kind of silent discussion. I saw it like a human flow moving quickly while keeping a certain physical distance. I was a little bit shocked. I wanted to represent these parts of cells like traces of my memory of the world I belong to. I wanted to link these lines in my drawings, to link people together, to ensure that none of the characters are alone.
YOUR BODY OF WORK HAS NO LIMIT, INCLUDING INSTALLATIONS, SCULPTURE, PERFORMANCE, AND PAINTING. HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHICH MEDIUM YOU WORK WITH?
I always saw my practice as echoing life and the space surrounding us: an infinite and undetermined space. I think that the time I have won’t allow me to explore everything. There is then a kind of absolute emergency to experience and explore everything. I consider markets and flea markets like open sky museums. I also listen to what happens around me. The choice of mediums is unexpected. It is for me, like a call, a necessity to choose a specific medium depending on what I want to express. It can come from a state of anger, from a picture, a song, or a basic observation of the world. I suddenly have images coming to my mind. This is how my creations come to life.
