In a whirlwind of vivid colors and mysterious female faces, African artist Obou Gbais transports visitors to Gallery LouiSimone Guirandou into a spellbinding universe. Until June 29, he invites the public to discover the Dan culture through his exhibition “Neo Dan”. The exhibition is both a tribute to his cultural roots and a celebration of traditional Dan society, transformed with talent and passion by Obou Gbais into a captivating contemporary work.
Steeped in his cultural heritage, Obou Gbais subtly incorporates elements of Dan culture into his canvases, revisiting them with a resolutely modern, hip and compelling approach. “Neo Dan” perfectly embodies this fusion of tradition and modernity, in which the artist unleashes his artistic virtuosity by breathing new energy into the features of Dan masks.
In his work, Obou Gbais celebrates the craftsmanship of the sculptor, who meticulously adjusts every detail of his creation in his infinite quest for perfection. Inspired by the grace of the Dan women, famous for the finesse of their features, the artist confronts the impossibility of fully capturing the vitality of a face, thus realizing the futility of his quest.
As the creative process progresses, the mask becomes more confident, more animated, more expressive and evolving, just like the artist himself. Far from its original purpose of frightening or symbolizing justice, the Dan mask embraces the wearer’s emotions and expressions, offering a captivating spectacle to spectators. By paying homage to his father, a mathematics teacher, through the geometric motifs that accompany the folds of the “sapes”, as he affectionately calls them, Obou Gbais adds a touch of fantasy to his creations, enriching his artistic universe.
Like a festive mask, Obou Gbais’s canvases invite us to a more contemporary dance. The artist’s creative process is a constant fusion between his traditional roots and his involvement in the development of a contemporary, mixed-race Ivorian culture, where he instinctively draws on various sources of inspiration.
Present on walls, on social networks, in neighborhoods and in museums, Obou Gbais can be found in a variety of social settings and atmospheres, enabling him to reconcile these two worlds in his work. This polymorphism reflects his artistic identity, navigating between painting, sculpture, drawing and music. Each of these mediums is an opportunity for him to build a bridge between the culture that shaped him and the one he has adopted, creating a harmonious dialogue between tradition and contemporaneity.
Driven by a new energy, Obou Gbais‘ mask evolves between the ability to convey emotion and the risk of tipping over into caricature. The spontaneity and expressiveness that characterize the artist’s work limit the effect of the mask to its primary function. These transposed faces respond to the Ivorian artist’s profound desire to translate inner life with intensity, to reveal intense emotions through marked expressions, as if the masks were finally revealing themselves in all their authenticity.
Taking up and transcending the codes of European neoclassical portraiture, which sought to retain emotions and exclude the representation of the soul’s passions, Obou Gbais blends his own artistic technique of humanizing masks. Thanks to his singular aesthetic and know-how, he infuses his creations with a true essence of life, multiplying the faces and emotions that emanate from them. In this way, each mask becomes a vibrant work of art, capable of transcending the traditional limits of art and expressing the depth of the human soul.
Pushing artistic expression to the point of distorting facial features and expressions gives the mask a new dimension: that of self-awakening. With his strange, colorful figures, Obou Gbais skilfully plays on the viewer’s natural empathy. The mask becomes so close, so striking, that the viewer instinctively reproduces the grimaces and distorted expressions depicted. This interactive relationship creates a deep connection, transforming the “grimasques” into much more than mere representations of intense emotions. They reveal the communicative power of the face through its diversity of expressions, variations and deformations.
Until June 29, Obou Gbais invites viewers on an immersive emotional journey through his “Neo Dan” exhibition, where traditional Dan culture and modernity meet in sculptures and paintings respectively rich in expressiveness and color. An invitation to explore the many facets of the human soul through masks and distorted faces, and to discover the depth of artistic expression of this contemporary African artist.
In a masterful artistic ballet, Obou Gbais takes us on a striking journey to the heart of the Dan tradition, revisited with boldness and sensitivity, where each brushstroke seems to breathe the life and spirit of this ancestral culture.
