Ouattara Watts Explained

Ouattara Watts
Birth Date:May 27, 1957 (67)
Birth Place:Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Nationality:American
Field:Painting, Drawing
Training:École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Style:Abstraction

Ouattara Watts (born May 27, 1957) is an Ivory Coast-born[1] American artist[2] known for his multimedia paintings that incorporate African and Western aesthetics and depict themes of spirituality and modernity. His work has been exhibited in reputable collections internationally, and he is classified by Christie's as a "Top Artist."

Watts studied at l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.[3]

In Paris, he met Jean-Michel Basquiat at an exhibition opening in January 1988. Basquiat was impressed by Watts's paintings and convinced him to move to New York City. They had a very short but important collaboration.[4] In the documentary Basquiat, Une Vie, Watts was filmed in his studio, working and talking about Basquiat.[5]

Watts has spent much of his career in New York.

Early life and education

Ouattara Watts was born on May 27, 1957[6] in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. He was given the name Bakari Ouattara at birth but later switched his name to Ouattara Watts when he moved to New York.[7] Watts was raised in a household that practiced a syncretic religion, which combined beliefs from several religious traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and their native West African spirituality. His father was a surgeon and an African spiritual healer. Throughout Watt's childhood, he gained a formal education as well as spiritual schooling. At age seven, Watts began painting and drew images for his spiritual initiation ceremony. When Watts was sixteen, he dropped out of school and began studying art with books he found at Abidjan’s French Cultural Center, and took an interest to modern art, including works by Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani.[8] Inspired by their work, he relocated to Paris in 1977, at the age of nineteen, to further his education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Watts also took classes in Paris with Jacques Yankel, a French painter who mentored students from Abibjan. He spent the next several years working in Paris and reflecting on the material he had learned. Watts stated, “I needed to make a synthesis of everything I had learned in Africa and everything that I was learning in the West… I had to assimilate it all.”

Career

In 1985, Watts began showing his work. The next year he had his first solo exhibition at the Centre Culturel de la Rochelle in La Rochelle, France. In January of 1988, Watts met Jean-Michel Basquiat at an exhibition at the Galerie Yvon Lambert in Paris. Basquiat was impressed by Watts's work and convinced him to move to New York City. Watts and Basquiat had a close friendship and a very short but important collaboration. Watts still works and resides in New York.

Watts has become a central figure in the rise of African American art, pioneering new ideas within the discipline. His works have been exhibited at the reputable Museum of Modern Arts as well as the Whitney Museum, and sold for up to a staggering 781,200 USD in auction at Christie's ("Afro Beat" in 2022). He is classified by Christie's as a "Top Artist" and is featured in numerous prominent private collections.[9] He is represented by Karma and Almine Rech.[10]

Work influence and themes

Strongly influenced by his West African spiritual upbringing and lived experiences, Watts explores his multicultural identity through his work.[11] Watts depicts themes of spirituality, Pan-Africanism, and modernism in his large scale, abstract compositions. To convey these themes, Watts has developed a signature style where he utilizes iconography as a pictorial device.[12] Watts uses a variety of mediums, including found objects, materials, photographs, and paint, to incorporate African and Western aesthetics into his work.[13] He places cultural references in his pieces to evoke themes of technology and spirituality, contrasting modernity with the long-established.[14] His works are embedded with a visual language that he creates using signs, numerical equations, and photographs of West African spiritual symbols and pop culture icons. Watts once stated,

“My vision is not bound to a country or a continent; it extends beyond borders and all that can be found on a map. While I use identifiable pictorial elements to be better understood, this project is nevertheless about something much wider. I am painting the Cosmos.” [15]
Watt’s work makes a stylistic connection to Neo-Expressionist painting, which developed in the late 1970s, through the iconography he illustrates throughout his work.[16]

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

Books and catalogs

Articles and reviews

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Youth shelter residents, artist come together. lohud.com. 2 July 2016. English.
  2. News: Ouattara Watts: Magazzino d'Arte Moderna. https://web.archive.org/web/20160910060053/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-117041685.html. dead. 2016-09-10. Carboni. Massimo. May 2004. Artforum International.
  3. Web site: Ouattara Watts, le plus américain des artistes ivoriens. 28 April 2015. Roxana. Azimi. Le Monde. 2 July 2016. French.
  4. Web site: Glenn O'Brien tells of magic and science in the paintings by Ouattara Watts - The Alessandro Benetton blog. alessandrobenetton.com. 26 March 2012. 2 July 2016.
  5. http://documentaires.france5.fr/documentaires/basquiat-une-vie France Télévisions | Toutes les offres du groupe audiovisuel français
  6. Web site: Watts Mike Weiss Thompson 2007 . 2022-12-04 . Karma . en.
  7. Web site: Kaelen Wilson-Goldie on the art of Ouattara Watts . 2022-12-04 . www.artforum.com . en-US.
  8. Web site: 2022-12-02 . Ouattara Watts Biography, Artworks & Exhibitions . 2022-12-02 . ocula.com . en.
  9. Web site: "Afro Beat" - Ouattara Watts . Christie's.
  10. Web site: Karma .
  11. Web site: Before Looking at this Work, Listen to It 23 November 2018 - 16 February 2019 - Overview . 2022-12-01 . Cécile Fakhoury . en.
  12. Web site: Kaelen Wilson-Goldie on the art of Ouattara Watts . 2022-12-02 . www.artforum.com . en-US.
  13. Web site: Shostak . E. M. . 2004 . Ouattara 1957– . 2022-12-02 . www.encyclopedia.com.
  14. Web site: Watts Exhibition Review National Museum of African Art 2008 . 2022-12-02 . Karma . en.
  15. Book: McEvilley, Thomas . Fusion: West African Artists at the Venice Biennale . 1993.
  16. Web site: Massimo Carboni on Ouattara Watts . 2022-12-02 . www.artforum.com . en-US.
  17. Web site: A R T T H R O B _ L I S T I N G S _ C A P E. www.artthrob.co.za.
  18. Web site: WATTS UP . Charlie . Finch . ArtNet.
  19. Web site: MAGAZZINO D'ARTE MODERNA > MOSTRE . www.magazzinoartemoderna.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110714020516/http://www.magazzinoartemoderna.com/GALLERIA/mostra.php?id_mostra=21 . 2011-07-14.
  20. Web site: Charest-Weinberg Ouattara Watts.
  21. Web site: MAGAZZINO D'ARTE MODERNA . www.magazzinoartemoderna.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071231093755/http://www.magazzinoartemoderna.com/GALLERIA/index.php . 2007-12-31.
  22. News: Doubts at Documenta: The 'Olympics of Current Art' Hits a Breaking Point. https://web.archive.org/web/20160911053558/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-87530820.html. dead. 11 September 2016. Plagens. Peter. 24 June 2002. Newsweek. 4 July 2016.
  23. News: Profile: Whitney Biennial art exhibit. https://web.archive.org/web/20160911094414/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-51936874.html. dead. 11 September 2016. Chadwick. Alex. 9 April 2002. NPR Morning Edition. 4 July 2016.
  24. Web site: Welcome to nginx!. virreinacentredelaimatge.bcn.cat.
  25. Web site: Fundació Antoni Tàpies. May 4, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110504023518/http://www.fundaciotapies.org/site/spip.php?rubrique65. 2011-05-04.
  26. Web site: Massimo Carboni on Ouattara Watts. www.artforum.com.
  27. http://archivio2.unita.it/v2/carta/showoldpdf.asp?anno=2004&mese=02&file=04RIVa
  28. Web site: artnet.com Magazine Reviews - Weekend Update. www.artnet.com.
  29. News: ART REVIEW; Spiritual America, From Ecstatic To Transcendent. Holland. Cotter. The New York Times. March 8, 2002.
  30. News: ART IN REVIEW; Claudia and Julia Mueller, Olu Oguibe, Senam Okudzeto, Ouattara Watts. Holland. Cotter. The New York Times. July 27, 2001.
  31. News: ART REVIEW; Mix of Cultures, Politics and Bravado. Holland. Cotter. The New York Times. May 19, 1995.
  32. Web site: Archivio Corriere della Sera. archivio.corriere.it.
  33. News: 'Body' & Soul: Fleshing Out African Art . Lynne . Duke . June 18, 2006 . . 2022-07-02.

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