This publication accompanies the exhibition Présences, bringing together the works of Nestor Da, François-Xavier Gbré, Yo-Yo Gonthier and Cheikh Ndiaye at the Galerie Cécile Fakhoury - Abidjan, from 4 July to 26 September 2015.
"Like a blank page ready to be filled, the open space of the gallery has become a meeting place for these four artists, who transformed it into a shared workshop so to speak, that is an invitation to dialogue and exchange between their different creative approaches. All the works on display evoke history, archive, landscape, architecture and narrative. The image altogether revealed makes sense as it induces an immediate reaction. It is produced by the elaboration unfolding before our eyes. Installations, moving images and even lighter formats are the ephemeral forms of these artists-citizens engagement. This exhibition tends to a survey of the current evolution and narration of our societies through the specific processes and outlines of each discourse. From one work to another, the explored territories leave an open space for discussion between the artists and participants. Présences is a journey through singular universes, which were made out of research, collected documents, highlighted tracks and performed gestures. This path opens onto an invisible, yet strong, relationship between the forms of the works, even though they come from very different creative processes. Through the emphasised plasticity of Nestor Da, François-Xavier Gbré, Yo-Yo Gonthier and Cheikh Ndiaye’s artistic chronicles, each and everyone can revisit the presence of the works and their strata of reading."
