Amadou Sanogo, Kɔ dimi tɔ fila tɛse ka sɛmɛ ŋɔkɔnna (Kôdimi tô fila têse ka sêmê gnôgôna : Deux personnes qui ont mal au dos ne peuvent se soutenir), 2020
160 × 164 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Florian Kleinefenn
identité visuelle © Lieux Communs
Amadou Sanogo, exhibition view Verbs and proverbs, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, 2020
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, exhibition view Verbs and proverbs, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, 2020
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, exhibition view Verbs and proverbs, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, 2020
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, exhibition view Verbs and proverbs, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, 2020
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, exhibition view Verbs and proverbs, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, 2020
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, exhibition view Verbs and proverbs, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, 2020
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, Ni ye ibiri ki bi dɔ bobara filɛ ma wɛrɛ fɛnɛ ba biri
ka i ta fila.,2020
164 × 160 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
Amadou Sanogo, Kɔ dimi tɔ fila tɛse ka sɛmɛ ŋɔkɔnna., 2020
174 × 170 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Florian Kleinefenn
Amadou Sanogo, Iŋɛtukuli bɛi Bɔlɔ ngaisetɛ mɔkɔ tɔw la., 2019
160 × 148 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Florian Kleinefenn
Amadou Sanogo, Akaguɛlɛ mɔkɔni kɔnɔka kɛlɛ., 2020
164 × 160 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Florian Kleinefenn
Amadou Sanogo, Ka kun kolo di mama nika nɛkun minɛna., 2019
205 × 180 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Florian Kleinefenn
Amadou Sanogo, N’tale dabɔna kun kolo ba de kama. (Les proverbes sont faits pour ceux qui ont une grande tête.), 2020
150 × 159 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, Niɔkala so boliba bɛ a yɛrɛkan. (Le cavalier du cheval à tige de milne fait que cavaler lui-même.), 2020
150 × 159 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, Ni ma misi to a sɔkɔma biri ye i ka to wulala birili ye. (Si tu ne respectes pas la vache qu’on trait pour le lait matinal respecte là pour le lait du soir.), 2020
150 × 159 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, Ni danka wili la siɛ kɔ a bido muru jakola. (La malédiction pousse la volaille à se transformer en vendeur de couteaux.), 2020
150 × 159 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, Bolo sina yɔrɔ mina tile kana bɔ ye. (Le soleil ne doit pas apparaître là où on a pointé le doigt.), 2020
162 × 160 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, My Observations on the Current Situation (Coronavirus Rennes), Marc 2020
162 × 150 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, Bɔlɔ ni gengena i ŋɛna ibɛo dondu ku don. (Tu ne peux pas connaître la profondeur de la poutre qui n’a pas été enfoncée devant toi.), 2020
150 × 159 cm, acrylic on canvas
courtesy the artist and galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
Amadou Sanogo, four sketches made
with children from the Tregain primary school in Rennes, March 2020
75 × 106 cm each, gouache on cardboard
photo: Benoît Mauras
Amadou Sanogo, exhibition view Verbs and proverbs, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, 2020
photo: Benoît Mauras
production: La Criée centre d’art contemporain
View from the exhibition in La Criée centre d’art contemporain, pupils from Trégain secondary school’s works made with Amadou Sanogo, Rennes, 2020
29,7 x 42 cm each works
photo : Benoît Mauras
Children from the Tregain primary school in Rennes, 2020
21 × 29,7 cm each, gouache on paper
photo: Benoît Mauras
Children from the Tregain primary school in Rennes, 2020
29,7 x 42 cm each, gouache on paper
photo: Benoît Mauras
Children from the Tregain primary school in Rennes, 2020
21 × 29,7 cm each, gouache on paper
photo: Benoît Mauras
Exhibition
Verbs and Proverbs
Amadou Sanogo
from 26 May to 30 August*
*The exhibition was originally scheduled for 21 March – 31 May 2020.
Entrance conditions have been adapted in line with the obligatory preventive measures.
At La Criée centre for contemporary art Amadou Sanogo is presenting a group of thirteen large paintings specially created for the occasion. They add up to an incisive, La Bruyère-style portrait of contemporary Malian society, polarised between its rich cultural heritage and the energy and complexity of the present.
Stylistically direct and wide-ranging, Sanago’s paintings are immediately recognisable: a figure – occasionally two – is set against a monochrome background, on which is overlaid a square or rectangle often bearing repetitive patterns. The dark, sometimes fractured bodies are complemented by highly symbolic items including flowers (the importance of harmony between people) and gloves (the need to stand up and resist).
Sanago’s characters seem in a state either of suspension or precarious balance. The misgivings, not to say disquiet, they convey are counterbalanced by the strong background colours, the touches of white, red and yellow, and the vibrancy of the repeated motifs – mostly circles and dots. Almost all based on Bambara proverbs, the paintings on display at La Criée are echoings of the artist’s daily life: conjecture, personal incidents and the social, political and economic contexts. To cite one example, Ka kun kolo di mama nika nɛkun minɛna (They left him his head but tore out his tongue), which shows a figure sitting at a table on which lies a tongue, illustrates both a Bambara proverb and a recent event: at the opening ceremony of the last Rencontres Photographiques de Bamako the biennial’s director was literally deprived of the right to speak. The same goes for Mes observations face à la situation (My Observations on the Current Situation), painted in Rennes last March, a few days before the opening of the exhibition – which in fact was pushed back two months. The artist portrays himself as a venerable sage observing Rennes residents’ fear as the Coronavirus arrives.
For Amadou Sanago education and transmission are fundamental human and artistic values. This is why he is devoting the art centre’s second exhibition room to drawings he made with children from the Tregain primary school in Rennes during his residency there in March 2020.
Rooted in the ups and downs of everyday existence, Amadou Sanago’s works have a critical and humanist reach made even more striking by their philosophical detachment. This is wisdom in paint.
curator
Sophie Kaplan
production
La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes
