On Wednesday, April 18th 2018, PIASA will present its sixth sale of contemporary African art, which will include a selection of photographs amongst which a rare print from Omar Victor Diop’s “Studio of Vanities”.
Major artist of the Senegalese and African photography scene, Omar Victor Diop strives to present a new and optimistic view of his homeland, showcasing young and enterprising personalities of Dakar.
Born in 1980, autodidact, inspired by Malik Sidibé and Seydou Keita (lot 162), Omar Victor Diop left his career in Corporate Communication to dedicate himself to photography in 2012, after a resounding success at the 2011 African Biennale of Photography in Bamako. His work is quickly acclaimed throughout the world, at the Rencontres d’Arles, at the Dakar Biennale, from Paris Photo to the United States. Mixing costume design, styling and writing, he draws his inspiration from an African visual heritage as well as from his personal international experience. His series of pictures are statements, dealing with the history of the identity claim movements in Africa or with the fight for civil rights, while constantly refusing rancor in favor of hope, a mentality reflected in his aesthetic.
The series ‘Studio of Vanities’, begun in 2012, showcases young creators, entrepreneurs, artists, personalities of Senegal. The compositions, mixing fabrics and patterns in a variegated and elegant aesthetic, are created hand in hand with the models in order to transmit an idea, a representation of their personality both as Senegalese men and women and as young persons open to the international scene: according to him, they are “fashion and decorative clues carrying identity statements, social transpositions.” Omar Victor Diop hopes to show an audacious, spirited, young and dapper Africa. “I want to draw the picture of a dynamic African generation”, he insists. “I am not annoyed that there is talk about epidemics, about Ebola. What is problematic is that there is talk only about that. In fact, there are very little alternate representations of urban Africa, that of the bloggers, young designers, entrepreneurs.”
In the work presented by PIASA, the model, Joel, is a singer, composer, and fashion model. In this series, shown last year in Paris concomitantly with the Malik Sidibé exhibit, he sits alongside DJs, journalists, dancers, professors, fashion designers… All faces reflecting the optimism and youth of a whole continent.
