Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
Frédéric Bruly Bouarbré, born on March 11, 1923, in Zépréguhé, Ivory Coast, experienced a mystical revelation on March 11, 1948, which radically altered the course of his life. Following this epiphany, he dedicated himself entirely to art, adopting the name Cheik Nadro, “the Revealer.” He passed away on January 28, 2014, leaving behind a singular legacy as a self-taught artist whose creative expression extended beyond the visual to encompass poetry, philosophy, and essay writing
His philosophical reflections, rooted in African reality and the quest for the meaning of life, led him to produce an expansive series of small-scale drawings—postcard-sized works rendered in ballpoint pen and colored pencil. This series, titled Connaissance du Monde (Knowledge of the World), forms a kind of visual encyclopedia of universal knowledge and human experience.
Bouabré was also the creator of the Bété Alphabet, a unique writing system composed of 448 monosyllabic pictograms developed for his ethnic group, the Bété people, with the noble aim of bridging African and European cultures.
He viewed his art as a total expression of both the visible and the invisible, embracing in it a redemptive mission: to preserve, illuminate, and transmit the ancestral knowledge of his people—and of the world.
Exhibition in collaboration with 404artcollection
Bouabré’s legacy includes the distinction of becoming the second Black African artist to be honored with a solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City (MoMA). His work has been presented in some of the world’s most esteemed cultural institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the 55th Venice Biennale, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. His international stature rose significantly following his inclusion in the landmark 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Pompidou—an event widely regarded as a turning point in the global visibility of contemporary African artists.
The exhibition brings together several of Bouabré’s seminal series, among them the Bété Alphabet—a visionary writing system of pictographic characters; the Museum of African Faces—a poetic investigation into scarification and corporeal identity; and selections from his monumental cycle Knowledge of the World. Each work testifies to Bouabré’s unwavering devotion to the preservation of cultural memory and his expansive vision of knowledge as a collective, borderless inheritance.
Exposiciones seleccionadas:
• 2022: Frédéric Bruly Bouabré: World Unbound, Museum of Modern Art, New York
• 2014 : Post – Picasso : Contemporary Reactions, Picasso Museum, Barcelona
• 2013: Venice Biennale, Italy
• 2012: Inventing the world: the artist as citizen, Biennale Bénin, Cotonou, Bénin • 2010–2011: Tate Modern, London, UK
• 2010: African Stories, Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech
• 2007: Why Africa?, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy
• 2006: 100% Africa, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
• 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, organized by a team headed by Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor (Moma PS1)
• 1996: Neue Kunst aus Africa, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
• 1995: Galerie des Cinq Continents, Musée des arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris, France
• 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 was 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: 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: 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
• 1989: Magiciens de la Terre, Centre Georges Pompidou and Grande halle de la Villette, Paris, France • 1989: Waaah! Far African Art, Courtrai, Belgium
• 1986: L’Afrique e la Lettre, Centre Culturel Français, Lagos, Nigeri
LAVIO Art Gallery
Murcia - Shanghai
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