Ouattara Watts (born May 27, 1957) is an

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

-born American visual artist, known for his

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

paintings that incorporate African and Western aesthetics and depict themes of spirituality and modernity. His work has been exhibited in reputable collections internationally, and he is classified by Christie's as a "Top Artist." Watts studied at l'

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

in Paris, France. In Paris, he met

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

at an exhibition opening in January 1988. Basquiat was impressed by Watts's paintings and convinced him to move to New York City. They had a very short but important collaboration. In the documentary ''Basquiat, Une Vie'', Watts was filmed in his studio, working and talking about Basquiat. Watts has spent much of his career in New York.

Early life and education

Ouattara Watts was born on May 27, 1957 in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

on the

. He was given the name Bakari Ouattara at birth but later switched his name to Ouattara Watts when he moved to New York. Watts was raised in a household that practiced a

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus ...

religion, which combined beliefs from several religious traditions, including

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, and their native West African spirituality. His father was a surgeon and an African spiritual healer. Throughout Watt's childhood, he gained a formal education as well as spiritual schooling. At age seven, Watts began painting and drew images for his spiritual initiation ceremony. When Watts was sixteen, he dropped out of school and began studying art with books he found at Abidjan’s French Cultural Center, and took an interest to

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

, including works by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

and

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...

. Inspired by their work, he relocated to Paris in 1977, at the age of nineteen, to further his education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Watts also took classes in Paris with Jacques Yankel, a French painter who mentored students from Abibjan. He spent the next several years working in Paris and reflecting on the material he had learned. Watts stated, “I needed to make a synthesis of everything I had learned in Africa and everything that I was learning in the West... I had to assimilate it all.”

Career

In 1985, Watts began showing his work. The next year he had his first solo exhibition at the Centre Culturel de la Rochelle in La Rochelle, France. In January 1988, Watts met

at an exhibition at the Galerie Yvon Lambert in Paris. Basquiat was impressed by Watts's work and convinced him to move to New York City. Watts and Basquiat had a close friendship and a very short but important collaboration. Watts still works and resides in New York. Watts has become a central figure in the rise of African American art, pioneering new ideas within the discipline. His works have been exhibited at the reputable Museum of Modern Arts as well as the Whitney Museum, and sold for up to a staggering US$781,200 in auction at Christie's ("Afro Beat" in 2022). He is classified by Christie's as a "Top Artist" and is featured in numerous prominent private collections. He is represented by Karma and Almine Rech.

Work influence and themes

Strongly influenced by his West African spiritual upbringing and lived experiences, Watts explores his multicultural identity through his work. Watts depicts themes of spirituality,

Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atla ...

, and modernism in his large scale, abstract compositions. To convey these themes, Watts has developed a signature style where he utilizes

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

as a pictorial device. Watts uses a variety of mediums, including found objects, materials, photographs, and paint, to incorporate African and Western aesthetics into his work. He places cultural references in his pieces to evoke themes of technology and spirituality, contrasting modernity with the long-established. His works are embedded with a

visual language A visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. Speech as a means of communication cannot strictly be separated from the whole of human communicative activity which includes the visual and the term 'language' in relation t ...

that he creates using signs, numerical equations, and photographs of West African spiritual symbols and pop culture icons. Watts once stated,

“My vision is not bound to a country or a continent; it extends beyond borders and all that can be found on a map. While I use identifiable pictorial elements to be better understood, this project is nevertheless about something much wider. I am painting the
Cosmos The cosmos (, ; ) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos is studied in cosmologya broad discipline covering ...
.”

Watt’s work makes a stylistic connection to

Neo-Expressionist Neo-expressionism is a style of Late modernism, late modernist or early-Postmodern art, postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wild ...

painting, which developed in the late 1970s, through the iconography he illustrates throughout his work.

Solo exhibitions

* 2019 Ouattara Watts, Paul Rebeyrolle Museum, Limoges FRANCE. June 2 to November 17, Eymoutiers, F 2019 * 2018 Gallery Cecile Fakhoury, ''"Before Looking at this Work, Listen to It"'', Abidjan, Ivory Coast * 2018 La Rotonde, ''"Get Ready"'', Abidjan, Ivory Coast * 2018 Dakar Biennial, Senegal * 2016 Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy * 2015 Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France * 2012 Ouattara Watts, Vertigo by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, New York * 2010 Hess Art Collection, International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa * 2009 Hess Art Collection, International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl South Africa * 2008 Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy * 2008 Galeria Leyendecker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain * 2008 "Andy Goldsworthy and Ouattara Watts" Two person exhibition, eleven paintings and watercolors from 1992-2006 by Ouattara at International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa * 2007 "Ouattara Watts: For Lily" Mike Weiss Gallery, New York * 2006 "Ouattara Watts: Works on Paper" Mike Weiss Gallery, New York * 2004 Tracy Williams Gallery, New York * 2004 "NH Crossing Currents - The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts"

The Hood Museum of Art The Hood Museum of Art is an art museum owned and operated by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth was in 1772, making the collection among the oldest and largest, a ...

, Dartmouth College, Hanover * 2004 Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy * 2004 Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy * 2002 Leo Koenig, New York * 2001 Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy * 1999 "Ouattara: in Roma" Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Rome * 1998 "Ouattara New Work"

Baldwin Gallery The Baldwin Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Aspen, Colorado established by Richard Edwards in 1994. The gallery features a variety of mainly American but also international contemporary artists and works including painting, drawing, sculpt ...

, Aspen, Colorado * 1996 "Ouattara Dark Star"

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. With a $5 million annual budget and approximately 75,000 visitors each year, it is Missouri's first and largest contemporary museum. Founders The core of the museum's per ...

, Kansas City, Missouri * 1995 "Ouattara: New Paintings" Gagosian Gallery, New York * 1994 "Ouattara" Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California * 1993 Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France * 1992 Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York * 1990 Akira Ikeda Gallery,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

, Japan * 1989 Marilyn Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, California * 1986 "Ouattara" Centre Culturel de la Rochelle, La Rochelle, France

Group exhibitions

* 2018 ''"African Metropolis, an Imaginary City"'', MaXXI, Roma, Italy * 2017 Museum FMCCA, Milano, Italy * 2017 Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy * 2017 ''"Afrique Capitales"'', La Villette, Paris, France * 2016 Dakar Biennal * 2010 'In Dialogue' "Four Generations of Painting" Curated by Peter Makebish, Charest-Weinberg, Miami, Florida, USA. Artists: Donald Baechler, Ross Bleckner, Kadar Brock, Brendan Cass, Sante D'Orazio, Matt Jones, John Newsom, Hermann Nitsch, Bill Saylor, Kenny Scharf, Ouattara Watts, Dustin Yellin * 2009 "Armory Show NYC" Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy * 2006 "Intersections: Shifting Identity in Contemporary Art"

John Michael Kohler Arts Center The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is an independent, not-for-profit contemporary art museum and performing arts complex located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States.Sheboygan, Wisconsin Sheboygan () is a city in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 49,929 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Sheboygan Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, which has a pop ...

* 2006 "Realm of the Spirit. National Museum of African Art" Mike Weiss Gallery, New York * 2006 "Body of Evidence "

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, Washington * 2003 "Black President - The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti"

New Museum of Contemporary Art The New Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-name ...

, New York City * 2002

Documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

11,

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, Germany * 2002

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

, New York, USA * 2002 " The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa 1945-1994. "

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

, Long Island City, New York, US * 2000 "Transatlantic Dialog - In And Out of Africa"

National Museum of African Art The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the Washington, D.C., United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African ar ...

, Washington, US * 1997 Chiba Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan * 1994 "Un Altre Pais" Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas Fundacion, Spain * 1994

La Caixa La Caixa (), also known as the "La Caixa" Foundation (), is a not-for-profit banking foundation based in Spain, with its headquarters in Barcelona since March 2025. Originally a savings bank (''caja''), it reorganized in the 2000s and 2010s: I ...

, Palma de Mallorca, La Virreina Expositions, Barcelona, Spain * 1993

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, Italy * 1991 " Syncretism: The Art of the 20th Century"

The Alternative Museum The Alternative Museum was founded in 1975 by artists for artists and the broader New York City community in the United States.Berkeley Art Museum The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and film archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director ...

St. Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is an art museum located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from around the world, its three-story building stands in Forest Park in ...

Mint Museum of Art The Mint Museum, also referred to as The Mint Museums, is a cultural institution comprising two museums, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Mint Museum Randolph and Mint Museum Uptown, together these two locations have hundreds of collecti ...

The Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located at what is now the Ma ...

, The Corcoran Museum of Art, The Center of Fine Arts,

Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst The Ludwig Forum for International Art is a museum for modern art in Aachen. It is based on the Ludwig Collection, which was brought together by the Aachen collector couple Irene and Peter Ludwig, and is supported by the Peter and Irene Ludwig F ...

, Aachen; Antoni Tàpies Fondacion, Espace Lyonnais d'Art Contemporain,

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

* 1990 " Images of Death in Contemporary Art"

Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art The Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, also referred to as the Haggerty Museum of Art or The Haggerty, is an art museum located on the campus of Marquette University in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The museum opened on November 11, ...

, Milwaukee * 1985 Musée National des Arts Africans et Océaniens, Paris

Books and catalogs

* 2018 ''"Ouattara Watts : Before Looking at this Work, Listen to It"'', Catalogue, 81 pages, English and French language, published by Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, 2018, * 2010 Hess Art Collection" by

Donald M. Hess Donald M. Hess (3 August 1936 – 30 January 2023) was a Swiss winemaker and art collector. Life and career Donald Marc Hess inherited a brewery close to Bern from his father. His father died when he was 20 years old. After learning the brewi ...

and Myrtha Steiner. Hardcover: 372 pages, Publisher: Hatje Cantz (January 31, 2010), Language: English, , Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 10 x 1.3 inches * 2007 Mike Weiss Gallery, USA, catalog * 2004

Hood Museum of Art The Hood Museum of Art is an art museum owned and operated by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth was in 1772, making the collection among the oldest and largest, a ...

Crossing Currents - The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts, catalog * 2003 New Museum. Black President: Fela Anikulapokuti, catalog * 2002 Cantz, Hatje. Documenta II Platform 5, catalog * 2002 Biennial Exhibition

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York, Prentice Hall/Abrams, catalog * 1999 Magazzino D'Arte Moderna "Ouattara Watts in Roma", catalog * 1995 Janson, H. W. History of Art. 5th ed. New York: Prentice Hall/Abrams, catalog * 1990 Barrière, Gérard. Ouattara. Galerie Boulakia, Paris, catalog * 1989 Warren, Ben Michael and Vrej Baghoomian, eds. Ouattara, Art Random, Kyoto: Kyoto Shoin, International Co., Ltd., 1989. Introduction by Ben Michael Warren, catalog

Articles and reviews

* 2019 ARTFORUM, Ouattara Watts : Mara Hoberman February 2019 pages 196 * 2018 Anna Sylvestre-Treiner, Jeune Afrique, ''Gardien du Cosmos'', n°3021, p. 86-87, December 2018, France * 2018 Sarah Moroz, Modern Painters, "Thinking global, acting local", p. 17, p. 22, December 2018, USA * 2018 Hannah O'Leary, Sothebys.com, ''From Côte d'Ivoire to Basquiat's New York'', Interview, March 2018, UK * 2015 Roxana Azimi, Le Monde, ''Ouattara Watts, le plus americain des artistes ivoiriens'', April. 28 2015, France * 2015 Clotide Scordia, Happening, ''Ouattara Watts, Mystical Storyteller'', April. 22 2015, USA * 2015 Henri-francois Debailleux, Le Journal des arts. no.434, France, 24 April to 7 May 2015 * 2012 Glenn O'Brien. Telles of Magic and Science in the Paintings by Quattara Watts. Alessandro Benetton's Blog March 26. 2012 * 2012 Karen Dayon, Ouattara Watts . Cool Hunting. New York. January 27/ 2012 * 2004 An article on Watts by Massimo Carboni published in Art Forum May 2004 * 2004 " Watts, l'ossessione magica dei numeri: L'artista ivoriano al Magazzino d'arte moderna" Pancotto, Pier Paolo, L' Unita Roma, 04.February.2004 (in Italian) * 2002 Robinson, Walter. ArtNet.com Magazine Reviews, May 9 * 2002 Cotter, Holland. The New York Times, March 8 * 2001 Cotter, Holland. The New York Times, July 27 * 1995 Cotter, Holland. Mix of Culture, Politics and Bravado, The New York Times, May 19 * "La pittura magica di Ouattara Watts" dated 01.31.2004 in Corriere della Sera (in Italian) * "'Body' & Soul: Fleshing Out African Art" a review on Washington Post dated June 18, 2006 by Lynne Duke

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Ouattara 1957 births Living people Contemporary painters École des Beaux-Arts alumni Ivorian painters Neo-expressionist artists African-American artists American contemporary artists American painters