Abdoulaye Konaté

The Abdoulaye Konaté textile sculptures are inexhaustible matter in which he listed the signs and symbols of secret societies in Mali (“Hommage aux chasseurs du Mandé” - 1994) or an interpretation of the world and events (“Bosnie, Rwanda, Angola” - 1995). With this material, he dyes, cuts, sews to have a structure for operating the flat surface of the fabric. This can become the support of growths that create optical effects. Gradually the assembly of these items obliterates the presence of the figure and plays with volumes, infinity of folds, rebounds, hollows, crevices (“Symphonie Bleue” - 2007).The density of the material allows him to dance forms in a setting designed to abstraction (“La danse d’une nuit” - 2009).

At first, he was influenced by Bocar Keita paintings, the only painter in his hometown, then joined the National Institute of Arts of Mali, Bamako. Mali in this time, a «non-aligned» country of communist influence, allows him to continue his training in Cuba, at the Institute of Fine Arts in Havana and to be influenced by Wilfredo Lam paintings and other great painters surrealists. They strongly mark his drawing and painting, including his serie «Ciwara» and many others until today, often characterized by the representation of African stereotypes (masks, antelope, zebu horns ...).

In the ninety, with large tapestries of traditional malian cotton, he worked a new creative process by looking at space and volume. Materials founding of his work, these textile sculptures reveal a deeply conscious world of economic and social challenges. It takes commitment and policy positions dealing with social, political and economic problems such as AIDS (patchwork of 6000 m2 covering the stadium during the opening ceremony of the ACN, 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Bamako) or global crises (Gris-gris blancs pour Israël et la Palestine - 2006) … in contemporary approach. But textile support is also to evoke the essence of Manding culture, with or without literal quotes to tradition with the famous serie «Hommage aux chasseurs du Mandé» in 1994.

Artist of the matter, Abdoulaye Konate combines hanging, assembly, dyeing and sculpture to achieve high recall and strong presence in space. With textiles, gris-gris, bullets, used clothing or sand, he comes in the theater and the world of contemporary art through the door or spiritual or political. Reflecting a Malian, African and universal collective consciousness.
In 1996, he received the «Grand Prix Leopold Sedar Senghor» in Dakar Biennale. He participated in exhibitions in Belgium, France, Spain, USA, Japan… He lives and works in Mali. Currently director of the «Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers Multimedia» in Bamako, Mali, he experiments new unprecedented pedagogies in Africa.

                                                                                                                                                       Mariane Buchet and Jean Loup Pivin

Revue Noire team is always very attached to Mali by his previous actions. 

1- Realization of the National Museum of Mali in Bamako by Jean Loup Pivin and Pascal Martin Saint Leon as architects in 1981 and 2002. 

2 - Participation in the 1st Biennale of Photography in Bamako in 1994, then with Simon Njami as art curator of the event from 1997 to 2007.

The magazine Revue Noire presented the work of Abdoulaye Konaté in 1994 following his remarked exhibition at the Museum of Mali, where he exhibited engaged installations following the bloody repression by former dictator Moussa Traoré. His first art-work using textiles was shown on the cover and in the magazine RN 17 about Mali ("Hommage aux chasseurs du Mandé", 1994).
It is in this friendly setting that Revue Noire welcomes Abdoulaye Konate textile artworks in the gallery.

BIOGRAPHY

Abdoulaye Konaté

Born in 1953 in Diré, Mali
Lives et works in Bamako, Mali

BIOGRAPHY

- Guide des artistes plasticiens du Mali/ Tomes 1 & 2. Acte Sept: Mali, 2010
- Biennale de Dakar : Pour une esthétique de la création contemporaine africaine. Tête à tête avec Yacouba Konaté et Valentin Yves Mudimbé.  Paris : L’Harmattan. 2009
- Martinez Nadine. Art contemporain/Art traditionnel : Aller-retour Mali-Mali. Paris : L’Harmattan, 2009
- Spring Chris. Angaza Afrika: African Art Now. Lawrence King, 2008
- Africultures n°73, Paris : L’Harmattan, 2008
- Documenta XII. Kassel : Taschen, 2007
- 2nd International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Séville: The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society. Actar, 2006
- Africa Remix. Paris : Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 2005
- Fall N’Goné and Pivin Jean Loup. Anthology of African Art, The Twentyth Century. Paris: Revue Noire Editions and New York: DAPDAP, 2002
- Mali au-delà des clichés, Beaux-arts Magazine, n°212, janvier 2002
- Mali Now : un monde fait de tous les mondes. Montpellier : Éditions Indigènes,
2001
- Konaté, Dolo, Diabaté : peintures – sculptures – installations. Éditions ville d’Angers, 2001
- Abdoulaye Konaté plasticien (les carnets de la création). Paris : Éditions de L’OEil, 2000
- Estaçào Oriente. Metropolitano de Lisboa, Lisboa, 1999
- Écoles et workshops en Afrique, Médianes n°14-15, Médianes, 1999
- Fall N’Goné et Pivin Jean Loup. Anthologie de l’art africain du XXe siècle. Paris: Revue Noire Editions, 2001
- Revue noire 24 : Djibouti, Ethiopie, Erythrée, Revue Noire,1997
- Revue Noire 25 : African Canada, Revue Noire, 1997
- Suites africaines. Couvent des Cordeliers. Revue Noire, Paris,1997
- Alain David, Abdoulaye Konaté, Jean-Sébastien Leblond-Duniach: Fondation France-libertés et Urbis. Paris : 1996
- Revue Noire 22 : Aquarela Do Brasil, Revue Noire, 1996
- African art of our time : an inside story. Tokyo : The Japan Association of museums, 1995
- Revue noire 17 : Mali, Burkina Faso, Revue Noire,1995
- Revue Noire 19 : Les artistes africains et le Sida, Revue Noire, 1995
- Rencontres africaines. Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe, 1994
- Revue Noire 12 : Afrique Méditérranéenne, Afrique Noire, Revue Noire, 1994

SOLO SHOWS (selection)

2011 : La toile d’Abdoulaye Konaté, galerie nationale d’Art de Dakar
2010 : Exposition rétrospective, Biennale de Dakar
2009 : Galerie Saro, Las Palmas, Espagne
Espace Forum von Kunst, Heidelberg, Allemagne
2001 : Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc - Thouars, France
1999 : Tuchbilder + Installation - Dany Keller Galerie, Munich
1998 : Le Plateau - Galerie GO - Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
1995 : Maison de la Culture - Amiens, France
1992 : Musée de l’IFAN - Dakar, Sénégal
1990 : Paysages et Masques II - Galerie Tatou - Bamako, Mali
1984 : Galerie L - La Havane, Cuba
1983 : Le Petit Salon National - La Havane, Cuba


Group shows (selection)

2011 : Mixités-Les chantiers de la Lune, La Seyne sur mer, France
2010 : Africa assume art position, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan
Art Basel, Suisse
2009 : Bienal de La Habana, Cuba
Africa ? Una nuova storia, Rome, Italie
2008 : Input - Colecção Sindika Dokolo, Luanda, Angola
Travesía, CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Iles Canaries
7th Gwangju Biennale, Corée du Sud
Artes Mundi, Musée national de Cardiff, UK
Angaza Afrika - African Art Now - October Gallery, Londres, UK
Biennale de Dakar, Sénégal
Grey Art Gallery, New York University, Usa
1st Biennale de Bruxelles, Belgique
2007 : Brocken Memory, Ghana National Art Museum, Accra, Ghana
Contact Zone, Musée National du Mali - Bamako, Mali
Three Questions for Art and Its Audience, Documenta 12, Kassel
2006 : Angola Pop, Triennale de Luanda, Luanda, Angola
Unhomely : Phantom Scenes in Global Society - 2e Biennale de Séville
2006-2004 : Africa Remix, Hayward Gallery, UK - Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf - Mori Art Museum, Tokyo - Centre Pompidou - Johannesburg Art      Gallery, SASA
2003 : Musée du design et des arts appliqués contemporains de Lausanne, Suisse
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, Belgique
1998 : Biennale de Johannesbourg, Afrique du Sud
Triennale de Kleinplastik, Stuttgart, Allemagne
24th Biennale of São Paulo, Brésil
1997 : Suites Africaines, Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris
Biennale de Venise, Italie
1996 : The Other Journey, Kunst Halle, Krems, Autriche
1995 : Setagaya Museum, Tokyo, Japon
Otro Pais, Palma de Majorque, Barcelone - Las Palmas Espagne
1994 : Rencontres Africaines, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
1993 : Biennale Grafolies, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
1992 : Biennale Internationale des Arts, Dakar, Sénégal
1991 : Tsurumoto Room Co, Shibuyo Ku-Tokyo, Japon
1990 : Musée National des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris
1986 : 2ème Biennale de la Havane, La Havane, Cuba
1978 : Jeunes Peintres du Mali, Institut National des Arts, Bamako