Ouattara Watts (born May 27, 1957) is an Ivory Coast-born American visual artist,[1][2] known for his multimedia paintings that incorporate African and Western aesthetics and depict themes of spirituality and modernity.[3] His work has been exhibited in reputable collections internationally,[4] and he is classified by Christie's as a "Top Artist."[5]
In Paris, he met Jean-Michel Basquiat at an exhibition opening in January 1988. Basquiat was impressed by Watts's paintings and convinced him to move to New York City. They had a very short but important collaboration.[7] In the documentary Basquiat, Une Vie, Watts was filmed in his studio, working and talking about Basquiat.[8]
Watts has spent much of his career in New York.
Early life and education
Ouattara Watts was born on May 27, 1957[9] in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. He was given the name Bakari Ouattara at birth but later switched his name to Ouattara Watts when he moved to New York.[10] Watts was raised in a household that practiced a syncretic religion, which combined beliefs from several religious traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and their native West African spirituality.[3] His father was a surgeon and an African spiritual healer.[3] Throughout Watt's childhood, he gained a formal education as well as spiritual schooling.[3] At age seven, Watts began painting[9] and drew images for his spiritual initiation ceremony.[3]
When Watts was sixteen, he dropped out of school and began studying art with books he found at Abidjan’s French Cultural Center,[3] and took an interest to modern art, including works by Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani.[4] Inspired by their work, he relocated to Paris in 1977, at the age of nineteen,[4] to further his education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Watts also took classes in Paris with Jacques Yankel, a French painter who mentored students from Abibjan.[10] He spent the next several years working in Paris and reflecting on the material he had learned.[3] Watts stated, “I needed to make a synthesis of everything I had learned in Africa and everything that I was learning in the West... I had to assimilate it all.”[11]
Career
In 1985, Watts began showing his work. The next year he had his first solo exhibition at the Centre Culturel de la Rochelle in La Rochelle, France. In January 1988, Watts met Jean-Michel Basquiat at an exhibition at the Galerie Yvon Lambert in Paris. Basquiat was impressed by Watts's work and convinced him to move to New York City.[3] Watts and Basquiat had a close friendship and a very short but important collaboration.[7] Watts still works and resides in New York.[3]
Watts has become a central figure in the rise of African American art, pioneering new ideas within the discipline. His works have been exhibited at the reputable Museum of Modern Arts as well as the Whitney Museum, and sold for up to a staggering US$781,200 in auction at Christie's ("Afro Beat" in 2022). He is classified by Christie's as a "Top Artist" and is featured in numerous prominent private collections.[5] He is represented by Karma and Almine Rech.[12]
Strongly influenced by his West African spiritual upbringing and lived experiences, Watts explores his multicultural identity through his work.[13] Watts depicts themes of spirituality, Pan-Africanism, and modernism in his large scale, abstract compositions.[4] To convey these themes, Watts has developed a signature style where he utilizes iconography as a pictorial device.[14] Watts uses a variety of mediums, including found objects, materials, photographs, and paint,[4] to incorporate African and Western aesthetics into his work.[3] He places cultural references in his pieces to evoke themes of technology and spirituality, contrasting modernity with the long-established.[15] His works are embedded with a visual language[10] that he creates using signs, numerical equations, and photographs of West African spiritual symbols and pop culture icons.[14] Watts once stated,
“My vision is not bound to a country or a continent; it extends beyond borders and all that can be found on a map. While I use identifiable pictorial elements to be better understood, this project is nevertheless about something much wider. I am painting the Cosmos.” [11]
Watt’s work makes a stylistic connection to Neo-Expressionist painting, which developed in the late 1970s, through the iconography he illustrates throughout his work.[16]
Solo exhibitions
2019 Ouattara Watts, Paul Rebeyrolle Museum, Limoges FRANCE. June 2 to November 17, Eymoutiers, F 2019
2018 Gallery Cecile Fakhoury, "Before Looking at this Work, Listen to It", Abidjan, Ivory Coast
2018 La Rotonde, "Get Ready", Abidjan, Ivory Coast
2018 Dakar Biennial, Senegal
2016 Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy
2015 Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France
2012 Ouattara Watts, Vertigo by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, New York
2010 Hess Art Collection, International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa
2009 Hess Art Collection, International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl South Africa
2008 Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy
2008 Galeria Leyendecker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
2008 "Andy Goldsworthy and Ouattara Watts" Two person exhibition, eleven paintings and watercolors from 1992-2006 by Ouattara at International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa[17]
2007 "Ouattara Watts: For Lily" Mike Weiss Gallery, New York[18]
2006 "Ouattara Watts: Works on Paper" Mike Weiss Gallery, New York
2004 Tracy Williams Gallery, New York
2004 "NH Crossing Currents - The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts" The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover
1989 Marilyn Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1986 "Ouattara" Centre Culturel de la Rochelle, La Rochelle, France
Group exhibitions
2018 "African Metropolis, an Imaginary City", MaXXI, Roma, Italy
2017 Museum FMCCA, Milano, Italy
2017 Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy
2017 "Afrique Capitales", La Villette, Paris, France
2016 Dakar Biennal
2010 'In Dialogue' "Four Generations of Painting" Curated by Peter Makebish, Charest-Weinberg, Miami, Florida, USA. Artists: Donald Baechler, Ross Bleckner, Kadar Brock, Brendan Cass, Sante D'Orazio, Matt Jones, John Newsom, Hermann Nitsch, Bill Saylor, Kenny Scharf, Ouattara Watts, Dustin Yellin[20]
2009 "Armory Show NYC" Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy[21]
1985 Musée National des Arts Africans et Océaniens, Paris
Books and catalogs
2018 "Ouattara Watts: Before Looking at this Work, Listen to It", Catalogue, 81 pages, English and French language, published by Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, 2018, ISBN978-2-9542653-1-5
2010 Hess Art Collection" by Donald M. Hess and Myrtha Steiner. Hardcover: 372 pages, Publisher: Hatje Cantz (January 31, 2010), Language: English, ISBN978-3-7757-2139-4, Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 10 x 1.3inches
2007 Mike Weiss Gallery, USA, catalog
2004 Hood Museum of Art Crossing Currents - The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts, catalog
2003 New Museum. Black President: Fela Anikulapokuti, catalog
2002 Cantz, Hatje. Documenta II Platform 5, catalog
2002 Biennial Exhibition Whitney Museum, New York, Prentice Hall/Abrams, catalog
1999 Magazzino D'Arte Moderna "Ouattara Watts in Roma", catalog
1995 Janson, H. W. History of Art. 5th ed. New York: Prentice Hall/Abrams, catalog
1989 Warren, Ben Michael and Vrej Baghoomian, eds. Ouattara, Art Random, Kyoto: Kyoto Shoin, International Co., Ltd., 1989. Introduction by Ben Michael Warren, catalog
Articles and reviews
2019 ARTFORUM, Ouattara Watts: Mara Hoberman February 2019 pages 196
2018 Anna Sylvestre-Treiner, Jeune Afrique, Gardien du Cosmos, n°3021, p.86-87, December 2018, France
2018 Sarah Moroz, Modern Painters, "Thinking global, acting local", p.17, p.22, December 2018, USA
2018 Hannah O'Leary, Sothebys.com, From Côte d'Ivoire to Basquiat's New York, Interview, March 2018, UK
2015 Roxana Azimi, Le Monde, Ouattara Watts, le plus americain des artistes ivoiriens, April. 28 2015, France
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