PIASA presents, in partnership with ASPIRE auction house, a sale of African Contemporary Art on 14 February 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Aboudia was born in 1983 in Abidjan and works between Abidjan and Brooklyn, New York.
He received widespread international attention in 2011 for his works which depicted the violence of the 2010 Ivorian crisis.
While many are fleeing the civil war, Aboudia chooses to stay in the country and produce work despite the danger. Living in a cellar near the Golf Hotel, he leads a reclusive life while painting impressions of the human hostility he observes on a daily basis.
His paintings are of children, but these are far from idealized images. The figures here are painted in a naïve sketchy and cursory manner. Their faces, in a state of permanent surprise, are not yet bored by the vision of scenes of ordinary violence. Aboudia paints in ‘Nouchi’ fashion, a mix of the various street styles which can be found on the walls of neighbourhoods around Abidjan which functions as a source of escape in response to deprivation.
His work is sometimes compared to that of Jean-Michel Basquiat, however, Aboudia, who does not compare to any other contemporary artist, claims multiple influences. During his initial visits to the Tate Modern, he was impressed by the large formats used by Jackson Pollock and the loose gestures of Cy Twombly. The street art in Abidjan, Tokyo, Silicon Valley and even more so of those in the Brooklyn district where he lives continue to inspire him. Aboudia’s artistic career has grown internationally following the Pangea I & II New Art from Africa and Latina America exhibitions at Saatchi in London.
He is represented in New York, London, Paris and various countries in Africa.
Christophe Person Head of Contemporary African Art, PIASA
Abdoulaye Diarrassouba (Aboudia)
100 x 139 cm
Estimation : 8000 / 10800 €
Abdoulaye Diarrassouba (Aboudia)
80 x 120 cm
Estimation : 5040 / 8000 €
