This monograph dedicated to the painter Ouattara Watts presents a previously unpublished selection of paintings from the 1980s to the present day, and places his work in a critical perspective thanks to contributions from art historians from diverse backgrounds.
Born in Abidjan in 1957 and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he developed early on a dense pictorial practice, rich in symbols and colors, in order to explore spiritual connections that transcend geography and nationality. Influenced by his Ivorian roots as much as by his encounters in the New York art scene—notably with Jean-Michel Basquiat—Watts developed a pictorial vocabulary that blends abstraction, figuration, and visual writing.
“My vision is not tied to a country or a continent; it transcends borders and anything that can be located on a map. While I use identifiable elements to be better understood, it is nevertheless a project that goes far beyond that.” "It is the Cosmos that I paint"
Ouattara Watts.
