Souleymane Keïta, Signes - Paris : Online viewing room

14 December 2023 - 27 February 2024

GALERIE CECILE FAKHOURY

Abidjan - Dakar - Paris

SIGNES

SOULEYMANE KEÏTA

14 décembre 2023 - 27 janvier 2024
Galerie Cécile Fakhoury is delighted to present Souleymane Keïta's first solo exhibition in France.

The representation of Souleymane Keïta's work is carried out in close collaboration with the artist's family, in order to enhance the value of this priceless heritage. This exhibition marks a turning point in the history of the gallery, which here extends its scope to modern West African art, whose history and aesthetic contributions remain undervalued and little represented.
Souleymane Keïta New York, dec. 1980 © Chester Higgins

Souleymane Keïta (1947 - 2014) is a Senegalese artist who spanned the second half of the 20th century, between modern and contemporary art. A leading figure in Senegalese art during this period, he was initially identified with the first generation of the Ecole de Dakar, before distancing himself from the artistic currents of his time from 1975 onwards, tracing a singular trajectory shaped by his travels (Mali, New York); his Mandigue origins; his personal place, the island of Gorée; and a quest for osmosis with nature and the universe.
"Chemise du Chasseur", 1993

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"Scarifications", 2001
"I LISTEN, LOOK, DANCE, DIVE, FLY. PAINTING IS A STATE OF MIND, A STROLL THROUGH THE GREAT BLUE DEPTHS OF PASTEL".

SOULEYMANE KEÏTA
Céramiques Almadies, 1987 © Michael Kelly
"Études de la Chemise", série Chemise du Chasseur, 1999

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Keïta paints presence, light, the weight of things, "messages from space, the seabed, plants and music", seeming to reach through painting the mystery of nature's physical laws. In series such as Scarification and Chemise du chasseur (Hunter's Shirt), Keïta seems to be the heir and guardian of a Mandingue tradition, evoking the ritual of scarification of the skin by sewn thread, or the traditional garment of the Mandingue hunter from northern Mali through the graphic weave and addition of small objects reminiscent of amulets, a garment that functions as an allegory whose symbolic essence alone seems to have been preserved.
- "Série Criquet", 2003
- "Criquet" , 2004
"Gorée", circa 1995

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Souleymane Keïta's work is enigmatic and full of signs. Essentially abstract, it nevertheless plays on the possibilities offered by figuration to inscribe itself in a sensitive universe. Keïta's palette seems to confront darkness only to let the light shine through, evoking the powerful reflections of the sun shining on the bottom of the water or the brilliance of the stars in a night sky. In some respects, Keïta's work seems mystical, that is to say, of a superior force that can only be approached, never translated or explained, only experienced. In fact, Keïta's works go beyond painting, most of them being composed of material elements such as keys, wood, sand, shells, stones, but above all thread and fabric sewn directly onto the canvas - a feature of almost all his work from the 1990s onwards.
"THESE PAINTINGS ARE NOT [...] ABSTRACT. THEY ARE RATHER CLOSE-UPS OF NATURE - FOLIAGE, FLOWER DETAILS - AS WELL AS LANDSCAPES."

SOULEYMANE KEÏTA
"Une vaste série de tableaux intitulée Voyage au Mali, exécutée au cours de ces cinq années passées aux États-Unis (1980-1985), revisite le voyage de Keïta à Bamako à un moment de l’année 1974 où, selon le critique d’art Yacouba Konaté : « Une terrible sécheresse venait de frapper le Mali et les étendues de sable scintillaient de mirages formant des strates sédimentaires de jaune, d’orange, de rouge, de violet, de bleu et de noir». La série Voyage au Mali comprend des peintures à l’huile sur toile ainsi que des gravures en couleurs sur papier réalisées dans l’atelier de gravure de Robert Blackburn. Ces œuvres sont essentiellement constituées de bandes de couleurs horizontales, sinueuses ou rectilignes, qui se fondent souvent les unes dans les autres et évoquent de manière vague et rudimentaire les paysages du Sahel composés d’une bande de sable, d’une ligne d’horizon et d’une étendue de ciel. Qu’il s’agisse d’un voyage vers le Mali (depuis le Sénégal) ou d’un voyage à travers le Mali (le titre faisant référence à l’intégralité du séjour que Keïta a effectué au Mali), cette série donne l’impression d’un mouvement vers l’avant, vers un horizon qui ne cesse de se dérober."

Joshua I. Cohen, " L'esthétique triangulaire de Souleymane Keita", Souleymane Keïta, Editions Cecile Fakhoury, printemps 2024
Studio, Dakar, c. 2010 © Jean-Claude Thoret
"Sans titre", 2009

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Keïta also explores techniques other than painting, producing numerous engravings and inks on paper, as well as ceramics and tapestries.

What Souleymane Keïta's many works have in common is the obviousness of the artistic gesture that gave rise to them, and the infinite power of the worlds that can be read in them, in the manner of the universe, of nature, whose mystery Keïta seems, in the course of his work, to have penetrated with a mixture of wisdom and enthusiasm. A prolific artist during his lifetime, Souleymane Keïta has exhibited in Senegal, Mali, France, the United States and Canada. His works have been acquired by private and public collections worldwide.
Souleymane Keita, "Signes", 2023, installation view, Courtesy Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Paris
The works presented in this first exhibition were produced between 1994 and 2005.

Souleymane Keïta's work is essentially serial, and his major series are represented here, including Chemise du chasseur (Hunter's Shirt), Scarifications, Criquet, Gorée and Synthèse.

It is nevertheless striking to see the extent to which all Keïta's canvases dialogue with one another, with certain signs, techniques or nuances creating bridges between the works and the artist's different periods.
Souleymane Keïta's first solo exhibition is an invitation to immerse oneself in his universe, to be initiated into the symbols of Mandingue culture, to be touched by the masterful associations of form, color and materials that make his work such a singular and powerful art.
"Chemise du Chasseur", 1997
Forthcoming publication

Cécile Fakhoury Publishing, May 2024

Echoing Souleymane Keïta’s first solo exhibition in Paris, the Cécile Fakhoury gallery is pleased to present a publication of unprecedented scope, which, without claiming to be exhaustive, offers an in-depth introduction to Keïta’s work, placing it in its historical context and opening the way to an aesthetic and critical analysis of his oeuvre. The aim of this publication is to contribute to the rediscovery of the life and art of Souleymane Keïta, and more broadly to help rebalance the production of future knowledge, criticism and archives on modern and contemporary artists from West Africa.

Bilingual book (french, english)

approx. 170 pages approx.

150 reproductions of works of art

Authors : Joshua Cohen, Maureen Murphy, Sylvain Sankalé, Saran Keïta, Magali Ohouens, Delphine Lopez, Suzanne Vogel Tolstoï
Contact

Jeremy Dessaint

jeremy@cecilefakhoury.com

+33 6 52 04 61 84