Contemporary African Art Gallery, 330 West 108th St, New York, NY

Viye Diba: Couleurs de kayar

Viye Diba is well respected and recognized in his own country. He is a professor of art education, the president of the National Association of Plastic Artists and the winner of the Grand Prix at the important Biennial: Dak'Art '98. He is almost as well recognized on the African continent, having been invited to show at the Johannesburg Biennials. Outside of Africa, Viye Diba has had one man shows Germany, France, Belgium and Spain. Contemporary African Art Gallery represents him exclusively and has presented his work in four shows and placed his work in the permanent collections of four museums and with over a dozen private collectors.

El Anatsui is the best known of all contemporary African artists. Without exaggeration, his “fabrics” of formally used metal bottle labels have found a home in most museums in the world. The sheer beauty, scale and resourcefulness of the work, he works only with three label elements, has attracted world attention. Contemporary African Art Gallery co-hosted his first show in metal fabric in New York and has lent two of his works to the Museum for African art for its inaugural show and El’s first retrospective. That show will also travel to the Royal Ontario Museum in Taranto. The Denver Art Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Jean-Michel Basquiat met Ouattara in Paris and was immediately taken with the power of his work. With Basquiat's introductions and the strength of his own work, Ouattara established himself in New York, although he maintains ties to Paris and his native Ivory Coast. Ouattara has been the featured artist in the contemporary French art magazine Revue Noire. He is the only contemporary African artists to be shown twice at the Museum for African Art. Ouattara is in an exclusive club of only ten Africans who have exhibited at the Venice Biennale.