Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, also known as Cheik Nadro (11 March 1923 – 28 January 2014),[1] was an
Ivorian artist.
Life and career
Bouabré was born in
Zépréguhé, Ivory Coast, and was among the first Ivorians to be educated by the
French colonial government. On 11 March 1948, he received a
vision, which directly influenced much of his later works. Bouabré created many of his hundreds of small drawings while working as a
clerk in various government offices. These drawings depicted many different subjects, mostly drawn from local
folklore; some also described his own visions. All the drawings are part of a larger cycle, titled World Knowledge. Bouabré also created a 448-letter, universal
Bété syllabary, which he used to transcribe the
oral tradition of his people, the
Bétés. His visual language is portrayed on some 1,000 small cards using ballpoint pens and crayons, with symbolic imagery surrounded by text, each carrying a unique divinatory message and comments on life and history.[2]
Many of Bouabré's drawings are in
The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of
Meshac Gaba. One of his emblematic drawings is saved in the L'appartement 22 collection on the African continent: "Une divine peinture relevée sur le corps d'une mandarine jaunie", made by Bouabré in 1994 in
Abidjan.
2005: Arts of Africa, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, France
2004–2007: Africa Remix, the touring show started on 24 July 2004 at the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf (Germany), and travelled to the Hayward Gallery in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.
2003: Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Musée Champollion, Figeac, France
2002: Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany
2001–2002: The Short Century was an exhibition held in Munich, Berlin, Chicago and New York, organised by a team headed by Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor
1996: Neue Kunst aus Africa, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germania
1995: Galerie des Cinq Continents, Musée des arts d’Afrique et d'Océanie, Paris, France
1995: Dialogues de Paix, Palais des Nations, Geneve, Switzerland
1994: Rencontres Africaines, the touring exhibition was shown at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Cidade do Cabo in Sud Africa, Museum Africa in Johannesburg and in Lisbon, Portugal
1994: World Envisioned, together with Alighiero Boetti, the exhibition hwas shown in DIA Center for the Arts in New York and American Center, Paris, France
1993: Trésor de Voyage, Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
1993: Azur, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Jouy-en-Josas, France
1993: La Grande Vérité: les Astres Africains, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, France
1993: Grafolies, Biennale d’Abidjan in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
1992: A Visage Découvert, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Jouy-en-Josas, France
1992: Oh Cet Echo!, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France
1992: Out of Africa, Saatchi Collection, London
1992: L'Art dans la Cuisine, St. Gallen, Sweden
1992: Resistances, Watari-Um for Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
1991: Africa Hoy/Africa Now, the touring exhibition has shown in Centro de Arte Moderno in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Gröninger Museum in Groningen (Netherlands), Centro de arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City