Abdoulaye Konaté presents « Les Plis de l’Âme » at Gallery 38 in Casablanca

The Gallery 38 of Casablanca presents « Les Plis de l’Âme », a solo exhibition of the artist Abdoulaye Konaté until July 29, 2021. The artist Abdoulaye Konaté for his second exhibition at Gallery 38, presents a bouquet of 11 stunning and unpublished works, based primarily on color and much on the heritage of the Tuareg and Fulani areas, all made in camera, especially for this exhibition. 

Working with tapestry, clothing, painting and sculpture, he uses fabric as his main material of imagination and draws his inspiration from African otherness as well as from worldly occasions. He works in sewn strips on increasingly large surfaces. Konaté‘s pieces as a whole are oriented towards a quest for color, these creations present some components of reality whose motivation he finds in nature, current events, creatures, the universe, but also the way people dress.

The works are composed of delicate pieces of colored cotton, flat, in which warm and dry tones are mixed, which he unfolds in moving waves. He thus creates a priceless space through a discreet work of dynamic vibrations. A whole bed of shadows is found in the work of the Malian artist, framing a chromatic range: the pale blue of the Tuaregs, the greens, the reds, the blues, the mauves and the purples of the Zaïane a bit like a consecration for this Berber clan of the Middle Atlas who opposed the French victory and whose name means « fils de l’ombre », the variety of the greens of The homage to the Moroccan woman the blues and greens of the Tuareg circles, the blacks, the bronzes, the reds, the oranges, the yellows and the whites of the Sahelo-Saharan triangles, the arkillas kerka a tribute to the Peul conventional wedding hangings, the blue grays that structure a horizon for a small person, the grays and the reds, the polychrome symphony of the butterfly.

The work of the Malian speaks to us through the senses rather than through reason. And this blue that comes back like a leitmotif, a rhythmic line that constitutes the motif, as in a musical variation around which the artist’s symphony is articulated. A blue that emphasizes, intensifies, illuminates. It seems that the artist has pronounced a maxim, « le silence est d’or ».

If Abdoulaye Konaté draws his inspiration from current events, he also winks at spirituality, because he addresses us through the faculties and not through reason. Moreover, this blue that returns like a leitmotif, a cadenced line that composes the motif, as in a melodic variety around which the symphony of the artist is articulated.

Abdoulaye Konaté

Born in 1953 in Diré, Mali, Abdoulaye Konaté studied at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Bamako and then at the Higher Institute of Arts in Havana, Cuba. Using bazin, a traditional Malian fabric, he creates works halfway between sculptures and woven canvases, made of segments of colored texture that unfold in unlimited optical appearances and impacts.

His sculptures and installations reveal a world that is experiencing financial, political and social problems and real factors on a global scale. By addressing the themes of globalization and the many ills that influence our social orders, such as conflicts, environmental changes or deadly infections, Abdoulaye Konaté questions the fate of humanity.

In 1996, he was awarded the Grand Prix of the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art. Today, his work is seen worldwide and has been presented on all continents in various fairs, biennials and exhibitions, including the popular Africa Remix touring show from 2004 to 2007. The most renowned institutions host his work, for example, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2013, the Institut du Monde Arabe in 2011, and the Fondation Blachère in 2010.

Since 2002, he has been a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and became an Officer of the National Order of Mali in 2009.

Head of the Exhibition Division at the National Museum of Mali from 1985 to 1997, he then directed the Palais de la Culture de Bamako and the Rencontres Photographiques de Bamako from 1998 to 2002 and since 2003, he has been supervisor of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia de Bamako.

The Gallery 38 Casablanca

Founded in 2010 after the meeting of two art lovers, Mohammed Chaoui El Faiz and Fihr Kettani, La Galerie 38 lends its walls to up-and-coming public and international specialists, with the constant aim of investigating creative research and taking an interest in the positive improvement of the contemporary and metropolitan scene.

Since its inception, Gallery 38 has had hands-on experience with public and global contemporary art. It has more than twelve prestigious specialists such as Abdoulaye Konaté, Amparo Sard, Fathiya Tahiri. Through the large number of individual presentations it organizes each year, La Galerie 38 supports and advances the professions of contemporary artists.

La Galerie 38 has long since chosen to turn to one of its best known models, urban art. La Galerie 38 has thus opened up to the entire underground scene, to street art, to pop art, and addresses artists who are no longer to be introduced, such as Jef Aerosol, Alec Monopoly, Georges Moquay or Médéric Turay.

By emphasizing light and a sense of authenticity, La Galerie 38 is today a gathering place for the creation and dissemination of contemporary and urban art for all audiences.