Mbindoum kaw gue: Kassou Seydou

Galerie Cécile Fakhoury is pleased to present Mbindoum kaw gue, a solo show by the Senegalese artist Kassou Seydou.

Almost all of them are watching us. They are these disproportionate beings, endearing giants, convening us in their unsolved anticipation. They invite us to sit among them on a gallery’s bench made from the same wood as the trees depicted in the paintings, thus underlining the temporality of Kassou Seydou’s artworks. The artist portrays a paradoxical and dual state where headlong latency and a leap forward exist on the same level, the temporality of a contemporary Senegal familiar to the artist.

The kings have returned from their rural exodus. The metropolis - and its delusional mirages - lacks opportunities for this generation of smartphone users. Kassou Seydou notices a new exodus. This one has the particularity to occur in reverse. The kings are coming back to the village and the land they have left behind, a corollary attempt to gain something out of this move. Blossoming from one branch to another, a plethora of shops reclaimed from the city, witty displays of fashion “Made in China” from synthetic and colorful materials, now make up the hybrid rural landscape. In order to counteract the lack of constructions, the immediate surroundings become the primary structure for tertiary businesses. Plans and functions commingle, the setting becomes a tool and vice versa.