Paintings by African artists

This exhibit is now over. The prices, dates, places and external hyperlinks on this page are not maintained and may no longer be accurate.

Achille Zoungrana

Achille Zoungrana (1984) lives and works in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and, like many West-African artists, is self-taught. He makes subtly layered abstract canvases and his work is transparent and modern and yet very African. His use of colours is connected to a weekly ceremony held in the palace of the Moro Naba, the King of the Mossi, in Ouagadougou. In his youth, Achille often witnessed this ceremony in which the king is dressed alternately in red, black and white garments and is supposed to prevent him from going into battle. These colours, which he applies in transparent layers, are the basic colours in his paintings and they refer to the magical and symbolic world of kings, chiefs and ancestors who he tries to revive through his work. His work has been on display in Accra, Paris and Vienna.

Laurent Ilboudo and Pierre Nikiema

Laurent Ilboudo and Pierre Nikiema are also from Burkina Faso and are also self-taught. They learned their ‘trade’ from established artists and nowadays are acquiring knowledge and experience from participating in workshops and exchange projects. With friends, they own an atelier in the centre of Ouagadougou, a city from which they draw inspiration. Pierrre Nikiema (1981) is inspired by the hectic street trading with its dust and colours, subjects that, combined with graffiti-like texts, can often be found in granular layers of paint on his canvases.
Laurent Ilboudo (1980) incorporates abstract signs in his work that are symbolic of his difficult youth. His use of loud, vivid colours also relate to his youth and to the dynamics of the struggle to survive in a city like Ouagadougou. In his work he is increasingly searching for the nature and roots of Africa.
Their work has been on display in Vienna, Paris and Copenhagen.

Pierre Segoh

Pierre Segoh (1980) is a talented, young artist from Lomé, Togo. He is also self-taught and is fascinated by the rich cultural traditions of this part of the world, such as the Dogon statues and myths from Mali. Also, the daily struggle for survival of farmers and fishermen plays a part in his work. He has an eye for the dynamics of urban Africa in cities like Accra, Lomé, Ouagadougou and Cotonou, where he regularly participates in art fairs, exhibitions and open ateliers. His work has also been on display in Barcelona, Luxembourg and Chamonix.

The paintings by Segoh, Zoungrana, Ilboudo and Nikiema are on loan from Huijs Basten Asbeck in Groenlo.

The exhibition is open weekdays from 9:00 – 17:00 until 15 September 2007.
The paintings, which are hanging in the corridors of the African Studies Centre in the Pieter de la Court building, Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden are all for sale and range in price from € 350 to € 1000. Feel free to come and take a look!

Artist: Achille Zoungrana	Artist: Laurent Ilboudo
Artist: Pierre Nikiema	Artist: Pierre Segoh