Frédéric Bruly Bouabré

Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, also known as Cheik Nadro (11 March 1923 – 28 January 2014).
Bouabré was born in Zépréguhé, and was among the first Ivorians to be educated by the French colonial government.

On March 11, 1948, he received a vision, which directly influenced much of his later work. Bouabré created many of his hundreds of small drawings while working as a clerk in various government offices. These drawings depict many different subjects, mostly drawn from local folklore; some also describe his own visions.

All the drawings are part of a larger cycle, titled World Knowledge. Bouabré also created a 448-letter, universal Bété syllabary, which he used to transcribe the oral tradition of his people, the Bétés.

His visual language is portrayed on some 1,000 small cards using ballpoint pens and crayons, with symbolic imagery surrounded by text, each carrying a unique divinatory message and comments on life and history.

Many of Bouabré’s drawings are in The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Meshac Gaba. One of his emblematic drawings is saved in the L’appartement 22 collection on the African continent: “Une divine peinture relevée sur le corps d’une mandarine jaunie”, made by Bouabré in 1994 in Abidjan.

2013 Venice Biennale, Italy.
2012 Inventing the world: the artist as citizen, Biennale Bénin, Cotonou, Bénin.
2010-2011 Tate Modern, London, UK
2010 African Stories, Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech
2007 Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2007 Why Africa ?, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy
2006 100% Africa, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
2005 Arts of Africa, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, France
2004-2007 “Africa Remix”, the touring show has started on 24 July 2004 at the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf (Germany), and travelled to the Hayward Gallery in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.
2003 Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Musée Champollion, Figeac, France
2002 Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany
2001-2002 “The Short Century”, was an exhibition held in Munich, Berlin, Chicago and New York and organised by a team headed by Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor
1996 “Neue Kunst aus Africa”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germania
1995 Galerie des Cinq Continents, Musée des arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris, France
1995 “Dialogues de Paix ”, Palais des Nations, Geneve, Switzerland
1994 “Rencontres Africaines”, the touring exhibition has shown in Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Cidade do Cabo in Sud Africa, Museum Africa in Johannesburg and in Lisbon(Portugal).
1994 “World Envisionned”, together with Alighiero Boetti, the exhibition has shown in DIA Center for the Arts in New York and American Center in Paris.
1993 “Trésor de Voyage”, Biennale di Venezia in Venice (Italy)
1993 “Azur”, Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Jouy-en-Josas (France)
1993 “La Grande Vérité: les Astres Africains”, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes (France)
1993 “Grafolies”, Biennale d’Abidjan in Abidjan (Ivory Coast)
1992 “A Visage Découvert”, Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Jouy-en-Josas (France)
1992 “Oh Cet Echo!”, Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris
1992 “Out of Africa”, Saatchi Collection in London
1992 “L’Art dans la Cuisine”, St. Gallen in Sweden
1992 “Resistances”, Watari-Um for Contemporary Art, in Tokyo
1991 “Africa Hoy/Africa Now”, the touring exhibition has shown in Centro de Arte Moderno in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Gröninger Museum in Groningen (Netherlands), Centro de arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City
1989 “Magiciens de la Terre”, Centre Georges Pompidou and Grande halle de la Villette in Paris
1989 “Waaah! Far African Art”, Courtrai in Belgium
1986 “L’Afrique e la Lettre”, Centre Culturel Français, Lagos in Nigeria