For FIAC 2021, Galerie Cécile Fakhoury is pleased to propose for the first time in Europe, a solo show by Senegalese artist Cheikh Ndiaye with a series of new paintings. A monographic publication will be launched during the fair.
Born in 1970 in Dakar, Cheikh Ndiaye lives and works between Dakar, New-York and Prague. A graduate from Fine Art Schools of Dakar and Lyon, his work is made of series of paintings, installations, photography and film.
Through the visual interpretations of anthropology and architecture, Cheikh Ndiaye alludes to the socio-political history of urbanism in Western Africa in the context of rapid economic development— the era of post-independence. The work of Ndiaye rehabilitates not only architectural interstices, but also those between the materiality of paintwork and concept, between image and installation, between anthropology and art.
The same respect for labouring hands and do-it-yourself enthusiasts can be found in his installation work. The reconstruction of objects related to an informal economy appears in Ndiaye's works as a positive practice, a reparation of society. He observes the informal in a unique manner. According to him, this area is not a mere socio-economic survival practice, but the basis of all artistic work - it is an everyday Duchampian defamiliarization, a space where art is sutured to life.
Rooted in West-African urban context, his approach of informality in its everyday form connects the material day-to-day reality to a larger reflection questioning aspects of post-colonialism and the construction of cities and states in Western Africa, especially Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire - but also in other parts of the world linked to the history of the African diaspora, such as Cuba or America.
