Obou Gbais
Obou Gbais (born 1992 in Guiglo, Côte d’Ivoire) is an Ivorian contemporary artist. A 2019 graduate of the École nationale des Beaux-Arts in Abidjan, he has developed a body of work centred on the human condition, urban dynamics and cultural identity. His visual language is immediately recognisable through his reinter…
Obou Gbais (born 1992 in Guiglo, Côte d’Ivoire) is an Ivorian contemporary artist. A 2019 graduate of the École nationale des Beaux-Arts in Abidjan, he has developed a body of work centred on the human condition, urban dynamics and cultural identity. His visual language is immediately recognisable through his reinterpretation of the Dan mask, a symbol of his heritage, which he incorporates into crowd scenes where memory, movement and the contemporary are in dialogue.
Refusing to be confined to a single medium, Obou Gbais treats every support as a territory for expression. The canvas is only a starting point: his world also unfolds across city walls through monumental murals, and onto textiles and ceramics, where his figures travel from one material to another. This creative freedom reflects his wish to take art out of exhibition spaces, to let it live in contact with everyday life and to build bridges between crafts, cultures and audiences.
He now lives and works between West Africa and Europe, and exhibits regularly on the international stage.
Refusing to be confined to a single medium, Obou Gbais treats every support as a territory for expression. The canvas is only a starting point: his world also unfolds across city walls through monumental murals, and onto textiles and ceramics, where his figures travel from one material to another. This creative freedom reflects his wish to take art out of exhibition spaces, to let it live in contact with everyday life and to build bridges between crafts, cultures and audiences.
He now lives and works between West Africa and Europe, and exhibits regularly on the international stage.
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