Ouattara Watts

Born, 1957 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

From the archived Documenta 11 website : www.documenta12.de//archiv/d11/data/english/index.html

“Since the mid 1980s, Ouattara Watts has been concerned with the place of the artist as an actor in the cosmic scheme of things. Significantly, he had been prepared for this inquiry by his childhood experience as an initiate into the secrets of his native Senufo religion. But his migration to Paris and later to New York has expanded his perspectives, as a seeker of occult and secular knowledge and as a painter, in a way that has become truly global. He is a painter of the world in every sense, for his occasional focus on particular, localized art forms and ideas, whether from Africa, Europe, or Asia, leads him to statements of cosmic dimensions. His work then is beyond the geographically specific, beyond national and cultural affiliations. Watts’s paintings, often large-scaled and physically dominating, combine multiple formal registers; in them signage, painting, and sculpture combine in a way that suggests the architectural.”

»  Documenta 11- Frieze Review 1

Review relating to an exhibition, 2002

»  Documenta 11- Frieze Review 2

Review relating to an exhibition, 2002

»  Documenta 11_Platform 5 : Exhibition / Catalogue

Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 2002

»  Documenta 11_Platform 5 : Exhibition / Short Guide

Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 2002

»  In the heart of the black box

Article relating to an exhibition, 2002