Ouattara Watts facts for kids

Ouattara Watts (born May 27, 1957) is an American artist. He was born in the Ivory Coast. He is famous for his paintings that mix African and Western styles. His art often explores ideas about spirituality and modern life. Watts's artwork has been shown in many important art collections around the world. Christie's, a famous auction house, calls him a "Top Artist."

Watts studied art at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. In Paris, he met another famous artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, in 1988. Basquiat was very impressed by Watts's paintings. He convinced Watts to move to New York City. They worked together for a short but important time. Watts has lived and worked in New York for most of his career.

Ouattara Watts's Early Life and Learning

Ouattara Watts was born on May 27, 1957, in Abidjan, a city in the Ivory Coast. His birth name was Bakari Ouattara. He changed it to Ouattara Watts when he moved to New York.

Watts grew up in a home where different religious beliefs were combined. These included ideas from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and traditional West African spiritual practices. His father was a surgeon and also a spiritual healer. Watts received both a regular education and spiritual lessons as a child. When he was seven, he started painting. He even drew pictures for his spiritual initiation ceremony.

At sixteen, Watts left school. He began to learn about art by reading books at the French Cultural Center in Abidjan. He became very interested in modern art, especially the works of Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani. Inspired by these artists, he moved to Paris in 1977, when he was nineteen. There, he continued his art education at the École des Beaux-Arts. He also took classes with Jacques Yankel, a French painter who helped students from Abidjan. Watts spent several years in Paris, thinking about everything he had learned. He said he needed to "make a synthesis" of his African and Western learning.

Ouattara Watts's Art Career

Watts began showing his art in 1985. The next year, he had his first solo art show in La Rochelle, France. In January 1988, Watts met Jean-Michel Basquiat at an art show in Paris. Basquiat loved Watts's art and encouraged him to move to New York City. Watts and Basquiat became close friends and worked together for a short but important time. Ouattara Watts still lives and works in New York today.

Watts has become a very important artist in the world of African American art. He has brought new ideas to the art scene. His paintings have been shown in famous places like the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum. Some of his artworks have sold for a lot of money at auctions. Christie's calls him a "Top Artist." His work is also part of many important private art collections.

What Influences Ouattara Watts's Art?

Ka Cabala Voodoo (1995) at the National Museum of African Art in 2022

Watts's art is strongly shaped by his West African spiritual background and his life experiences. He explores his mixed cultural identity through his work. Watts's large, abstract paintings show themes of spirituality, Pan-Africanism (the idea of unity among all African people), and modern life.

To show these ideas, Watts uses a special style. He includes different symbols and images, called iconography, in his art. He uses many different materials, like found objects, photos, and paint. This helps him combine African and Western styles in his work. He puts cultural references in his pieces to show ideas about technology and spirituality. This contrasts modern life with older traditions. His art is filled with a special visual language. He creates this language using signs, math equations, and pictures of West African spiritual symbols and pop culture icons.

Watts once said, "My vision is not bound to a country or a continent; it extends beyond borders... I am painting the Cosmos." This means his art is about big, universal ideas. Watts's work also connects to Neo-expressionism, an art style from the late 1970s. This connection comes from the symbols he uses in his paintings.

Ouattara Watts's Art Exhibitions

Ouattara Watts's art has been shown in many places around the world. Here are some of his solo and group exhibitions:

• 2019: Paul Rebeyrolle Museum, Limoges, France
• 2018: Gallery Cecile Fakhoury, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
• 2018: Dakar Biennial, Senegal
• 2016: Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
• 2015: Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France
• 2012: Vertigo by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, New York
• 2007: Mike Weiss Gallery, New York
• 2004: The Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, USA
• 2002: Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (Group exhibition)
• 2002: Whitney Biennial, New York, USA (Group exhibition)
• 1995: Gagosian Gallery, New York
• 1993: Venice Biennale, Italy (Group exhibition)
• 1986: Centre Culturel de la Rochelle, La Rochelle, France