Assoukrou Aké was chosen among the 5 finalists by a jury composed of experts of contemporary art, including experts of the Ivorian art scene.
Sixty-seven (67) applications received following the call for this second edition of the Ellipse Prize, an initiative of the endowment fund ellipse art projects that rewards each year the creativity of a nation of sub-Saharan Africa or Asia while paying global attention to the climate through the messages conveyed by the artists.
The second edition of the ellipse Prize was dedicated to emerging African artists aged 18 to 40 years living in Côte d’Ivoire, not represented and whose practice is visual expressions.
Untilted, Technique mixte, Contreplaqué gravé et acrylique
The artist winner of ellipse 2022 Prize, Assoukrou Aké will benefit from an exhibition at the AKAA International Contemporary Art Fair “ALSO KNOWN AS AFRICA” which will take place from October 20 to 23, 2022 as well as media and expert assistance.
Assoukrou Aké
Born in 1995 in Bonoua, a city in Côte d’Ivoire, Assoukrou Aké is a multidisciplinary artist whose background in art history has led him to foster research projects in which he assumes the role of a scientist leading narratives of recuperation of brutality and its capacity for transformation deciphered through references made from sections of images.
To assemble his stories, the winner of ellipse 2022 Prize reflects on the difficulty of putting the unspeakable into images, builds and dismantles these fragments that he filters through openings, separates, comes out from underneath the voids… He disarticulates the development, breaks the settings and purges them of their meaning. This is what we call: “the art of translation“.
This work of deciphering, among dreams and memories, is inscribed in the before, the present and its reality. The artist alludes to African tales, profane and consecrated customs, the learned canvas, tight photography and a return to cosmogony.
Assoukrou Aké‘s work was awarded the Grand Prix International Jeune Talent Arbustes at the Salon d’Automne de Paris in 2017 and the Prix du Public at ICART Artistik Rezo in 2022. He has also been nominated for the JUVENARS-IESA Prize and the Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne Prize in 2021.
