Ouattara Watts

Ouattara Watts (born 1957) is an American artist.[1] He was born in Ivory Coast[2] and now lives in the United States.

Ouattara Watts
Born1957
Ivory Coast
NationalityAmerican
EducationÉcole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Known forPainting, Drawing
StyleAbstraction
Websiteouattarawatts.com

He studied at l’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France.[3]

In Paris, he met Jean-Michel Basquiat at an exhibition opening in January 1988. Basquiat was impressed by Watts's paintings and convinced him to move to New York City. They had a very short but important collaboration.[4] In the documentary "Basquiat, Une Vie", Watts was filmed in his studio, working and talking about Basquiat.

Watts is an internationally recognized for painting and drawing. Watts is a jazz enthusiast, who merged music and art in paintings and collages by using everyday materials.

Watts lives and works in New York City.

Selected solo exhibitions
  • 2019
  • Ouattara Watts, Paul Rebeyrolle Museum, Limoges FRANCE . , June 2 to November 17,, Eymoutiers, F 2019
  • 2018 Gallery Cecile Fakhoury, "Before Looking at this Work, Listen to It", Abidjan, Ivory Coast
  • 2018 La Rotonde, "Get Ready", Abidjan, Ivory Coast
  • 2018 Dakar Biennial, Senegal
  • 2016 Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy
  • 2015 Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France
  • 2012 Ouattara Watts, Vertigo by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, New York
  • 2010 Hess Art Collection , International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa
  • 2009 Hess Art Collection, International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl South Africa
  • 2008 Magazzino d’Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy
  • 2008 Galeria Leyendecker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
  • 2008 "Andy Goldsworthy and Ouattara Watts" Two person exhibition, eleven paintings and watercolors from 1992-2006 by Ouattara at International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa
  • 2007 "Ouattara Watts: For Lily" Mike Weiss Gallery, New York
  • 2006 "Ouattara Watts: Works on Paper" Mike Weiss Gallery, New York
  • 2004 Tracy Williams Gallery, New York
  • 2004 "NH Crossing Currents - The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts" The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover
  • 2004 Magazzino d’Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy
  • 2004 Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
  • 2002 Leo Koenig, New York
  • 2001 Magazzino d’Arte Moderna, Roma, Italy
  • 1999 "Ouattara: in Roma" Magazzino d’Arte Moderna, Rome
  • 1998 "Ouattara New Work" Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado
  • 1996 "Ouattara Dark Star" Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
  • 1995 "Ouattara: New Paintings" Gagosian Gallery, New York
  • 1994 "Ouattara" Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California
  • 1993 Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France
  • 1992 Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York
  • 1990 Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
  • 1989 Marilyn Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, California
  • 1986 "Ouattara" Centre Culturel de la Rochelle, La Rochelle, France

Selected group exhibitions

Books and catalogs
  • 2018 "Ouattara Watts : Before Looking at this Work, Listen to It", Catalogue, 81 pages, English and French language, published by Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, 2018, ISBN 978-2-9542653-1-5
  • 2010 Hess Art Collection" by Donald M. Hess and Myrtha Steiner. Hardcover: 372 pages, Publisher: Hatje Cantz (January 31, 2010), Language: English, ISBN 978-3-7757-2139-4, Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 10 x 1.3 inches
  • 2007 Mike Weiss Gallery, USA, catalog
  • 2004 Hood Museum of Art Crossing Currents - The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts, catalog
  • 2003 New Museum. Black President: Fela Anikulapokuti, catalog
  • 2002 Cantz, Hatje. Documenta II Platform 5, catalog
  • 2002 Biennial Exhibition Whitney Museum, New York, Prentice Hall/Abrams, catalog
  • 1999 Magazzino D’Arte Moderna "Ouattara Watts in Roma", catalog
  • 1995 Janson, H. W. History of Art. 5th ed. New York: Prentice Hall/Abrams, catalog
  • 1990 Barrière, Gérard. Ouattara. Galerie Boulakia, Paris, catalog
  • 1989 Warren, Ben Michael and Vrej Baghoomian, eds. Ouattara, Art Random, Kyoto: Kyoto Shoin, International Co., Ltd., 1989. Introduction by Ben Michael Warren, catalog

Articles and reviews
  • 2019 ARTFORUM, Ouattara Watts : Mara Hoberman February 2019 pages 196
  • 2018 Anna Sylvestre-Treiner, Jeune Afrique, Gardien du Cosmos, n°3021, p.86-87, December 2018, France
  • 2018 Sarah Moroz, Modern Painters, "Thinking global, acting local", p.17, p.22, December 2018, USA
  • 2018 Hannah O'Leary, Sothebys.com, From Côte d'Ivoire to Basquiat's New York, Interview, March 2018, UK
  • 2015 Roxana Azimi, Le Monde, Ouattara Watts, le plus americain des artistes ivoiriens, April. 28 2015, France
  • 2015 Clotide Scordia, Happening, Ouattara Watts, Mystical Storyteller, April. 22 2015, USA
  • 2015 Henri-francois Debailleux, Le Journal des arts. no.434, France, 24 April to 7 May 2015
  • 2012 Glenn O'Brien. Telles of Magic and Science in the Paintings by Quattara Watts. Alessandro Benetton's Blog March 26. 2012
  • 2012 Karen Dayon, Ouattara Watts . Cool Hunting. New York. January 27/ 2012
  • 2004 An article on Watts by Massimo Carboni published in Art Forum May 2004
  • 2004 " Watts, l’ossessione magica dei numeri: L’artista ivoriano al Magazzino d’arte moderna" Pancotto, Pier Paolo, L’ Unita Roma, 04.February.2004 ( in Italian )
  • 2002 Robinson, Walter. ArtNet.com Magazine Reviews, May 9
  • 2002 Cotter, Holland. The New York Times, March 8
  • 2001 Cotter, Holland. The New York Times, July 27
  • 1995 Cotter, Holland. Mix of Culture, Politics and Bravado, The New York Times, May 19
  • "La pittura magica di Ouattara Watts" dated 01.31.2004 in Corriere della Sera (in Italian)
  • "'Body' & Soul: Fleshing Out African Art" a review on Washington Post dated June 18, 2006 by Lynne Duke

References
  1. Carboni, Massimo (May 2004). "Ouattara Watts: Magazzino d'Arte Moderna". Artforum International  – via HighBeam (subscription required) . Archived from the original on 2016-09-10. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  2. "Youth shelter residents, artist come together". lohud.com. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  3. Azimi, Roxana (28 April 2015). "Ouattara Watts, le plus américain des artistes ivoriens" (in French). Le Monde. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  4. "Glenn O'Brien tells of magic and science in the paintings by Ouattara Watts - The Alessandro Benetton blog". alessandrobenetton.com. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  5. Plagens, Peter (24 June 2002). "Doubts at Documenta: The 'Olympics of Current Art' Hits a Breaking Point". Newsweek  – via HighBeam (subscription required) . Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  6. Chadwick, Alex (9 April 2002). "Profile: Whitney Biennial art exhibit". NPR Morning Edition  – via HighBeam (subscription required) . Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  • French Documentary “Basquiat Une Vie”, can be seen streaming online


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.