Souleymane Konaté

A self-taught Ivorian painter and sculptor, Souleymane Konaté (1983) loved drawing from the youngest age. As a teenager, he would dabble in the arts, roam the museums, galleries and exhibits of Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) and befriend artists.

 After working for a few years as a calligrapher, in the early 2000s, Souleymane began to study and practice art on his own, painting in a studio alongside other artists. At the time (2000-2010), a severe socio-political crisis was rocking Côte d’Ivoire, driving him and this generation of artists to break with the past and explore new ways of expression. Emancipating themselves from classical figuration, they focused on bright and warm colours, collage, and other techniques, and chose the urban life around them as a source of inspiration.

 Souleymane’s fantastic hybrid characters take centre stage. They are immediately recognizable, with their bulging eyes, “cut-out” mouths and pliable organic shapes. Part human, part animal and part vegetal, they are born from Souleymane’s vivid imagination, an imagination fed by his community’s (the Bambara) rich cosmogony — where the first human was born from the branch of an acacia tree — as well as inspired by the work of Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Picasso, and Dali. Typically in a group of two or more and intertwined or linked by a ribbon, the subjects exude a sense of cohesion and belonging.

 Souleymane paints with acrylic on canvas. He builds his paintings one layer at a time, using different techniques such as splashing, marbling and collage. His characters are two-dimensional, but depth is created through the juxtaposition of layers. It is further accentuated by details like stars, flowers, points or other symbols of different sizes, visible both on the background and the bodies of the characters themselves. Souleymane applies vibrant, saturated, and contrasting colours that most would not dare to combine. And yet, his compositions remain harmonious and balanced.

 Following a number of internationally participated exhibitions across the African Continent, Souleymane has received acclamations in France, Germany and Washington D.C. (USA), where he entered the African Art Beats Collection. Marie Jose Gallery is honoured to present Souleymane Konaté and his anthropomorphous characters as part of the gallery line-up.

Latest Exhibitions

2023 - Affordable Art Fair Battersea with Marie Jose Gallery, London

2022- Anthropomorphus at Marie Jose Gallery, London

2022 - African Art Beats Washington (USA)

2021 - Solo exhibition at Fondation Donwahi, Abidjan

2021 - Solo exhibition in Walls House of Art, Abidjan

2020 - Private solo show at Villa Fruity 2, Riviera Beverly Hills, Abidjan

2020 - Walls House of Art, Abidjan

2019 - African Art Beats Washington (USA)

2019 - Les Ateliers Sahm in l’intstitut Francaise de Congo Brazzaville

2019 - 13th edition of Village Rencontre d’Art Contemporain a Salies de Beam “VRAC”, France

2018 - FIBA (Fédération internationale de Basketball en suisse), Geneva

2018 - OFF at the 13th edition of the biennale of contemporary African art at l’institut Goethe and the villa Gottfried Center Ngaparou Dakar, Sénégal

2018 - Galerie Louis Simone Guirandou, Abidjan

2017 - Galerie Amani, Marcory

2017 - Mosque Hassan II Casablanca, on the occasion of the 54th anniversary of his majesty Mohammed VI, king of Morocco, organised by l’ANAP, Morocco

2016 - OFF at the 12th edition of the Biennale of contemporary African art at Galerie Ciss, Dakar, Sénégal

Available works