BIOGRAPHY New

Armand Boua, born 1978 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
He lives and works in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

EDUCATION
National School of Fine Arts, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Technical Center of Applied Arts, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Ste Mary Training Institute, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Museum of Civilization, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
Les Gnambros Online Exhib at Jackbell Gallery Lo ndon 6 A pril 1May
2019
“Yopougon Adjamé Liberté” Cecile Fakoury G allery Cote d’Ivoire
Kouman de Kekechoz at Jack bell Gallery, London 15February 1March
2018
Brobrosseurs at Gal l er y Cécile Fakhoury Dakar Sénégal
“Dans le at Lars Kristian Bode (LKB/G) Hamburg
“Mogo de Poy City” at Jack bell Gallery, London 16 February 2 March
2017
Children of Africa Create Hub Gallery, Dubai 17 Oct 9 Nov
Clache Moi Jack Bell Gallery, London 17 February 3 March 2017
2016
Forgotten People , Ethan Cohen Gallery, New York, Dec 10,2016 Jan 28 ,
"Les zinzins at Jack bell Gallery London 4 18 march 2016
2015
Jossi à yopougon , Jack bell G allery, London 4 28 M arch 2015
2014
Enfants de la rue , Jack bell G allery, London 21 March 17 A pril 2014

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
Fondation Montresso (Jardin Rouge) In Discipline #2, Morroco
Cape Town Art Fair, South Africa
child soldiers , Drouot, France
2018
Talisman in the age of difference. Gallery Stephen Friedman, London
Artistic Surgery for Broken Faces. Galerie, PIASA, Paris
2017
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Somerset House, London
1:54_Contemporary African Art Fair, New York May
Ethan Cohen New York at VOLTA
2016
Ethan Cohen New York at Art Miami 2016
1:54_Contemporary African Art Fair, New York 6-8 May and London 6-9
October
2015
FAUNT: Africa New Wave, New York 19th Nov 19th Dec
CHRISTIE'S CURATES, LONDON
Past Perfect / Future Present', Christie's King St, London. 12-16 June
1:54_CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART , New York
PANGAEA II : New Art from Africa Latin America , Saatchi London
2014  1:54_CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART, London
2013  Art and Nature, 4e Edition, Katadji, Ivory Coast
2012  A Look Abidjan, Company EIFFAGE Senegal2011
2010  1st Edition of International Plastic Arts Fair, Abidjan (SIAPA), Ivory Coast
9th EDITION OF DAK'ART, Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Senegal
4th EDITION OF ESSAOUIRA FESTIVAL, Morocco
2007  1st EDITION OF BRUSH OF AFRICA, Stockholm, Sweden
          1st EDITION OF FESTIVAL OF VISUAL ARTS, ABIDJAN (AVA),
           Ivory Coast

AUCTIONS
2017 SOTHEBY’S: Modern and Contemporary African Art, 16 May London
PIASA: Contemporary African Art, 20 April Paris
AMREF HEALTH AFRICA. ARTBALL: Contemporary African Art May 6,
New York City

COLLECTIONS
Saatchi Gallery, UK The Franks-Suss Collection, Hong Kong and the Trioche Deleon
Collection, Israël.

Armand Boua illustrates his works based on the lives of street kids who testify to
the violence and political struggles in West Africa. He wants to show the lives of
these street children in a way that not so many people can relate to. Working in
Abidjan, the economic capital at the crossroads of urbanisation and
industrialisation, Boua experiences the Ivorian landscape with heightened
sensitivity. His observations of children are drawn largely from street scenes
where urban migrations create ethnic, linguistic, cultural and social entanglements
that have come to enrich and problematize the region in equal measure. Children
abduction in Ivory Coast remains a chilling real issue with myths of human
sacrifices and other rituals fulling the market for organs of the young, who also
fall victim to sex trafficking, illegal adoption rings and plantation labour.
Boua’s subjects could be victims of such exploitation, or symbols of hope and
innocence. The severity of this crisis foreshadows the practice of the street-based
artist, who sees the atrocities of man echoed in everyday life and gives them shape
through painting and emotive movements. Having studied in the National School
of Fine Arts and the Technical Centre for Applied Arts both in Abidjan, he
immersed himself deeply in the artistic world, depicting the real issues of the
young volatile children. His principle is one born out of an engagement with
found material, to which he applies his signature forms that invoke images and
scenes in remembrance. Boua is noted for his textured and layered compositions,
using tar and acrylic on found cardboard boxes. Each layer is applied and then
scrubbed and stripped back, leaving abstract forms that come in and out of focus.
He achieves a careful balance between his heavy gestures and violent execution
and the gentle treatment of his subject matter.
When it comes to his paintings, Armand describes the plight of his subjects: “I
wanted to show their suffering, their way of life, so that people are finally aware
of this painful reality they pretend not to see.”
His work has been exhibited in Pangaea II: New Art From Africa and Latin
America at Saatchi Gallery (London, UK).
Press
Schwäbische Zeitung, September 2017
Monopol Magazin, dpa, September 2017
Financial Times, September 2017
Financial Times, Melanie Gerlis, March 2017
Christie's.com, June 2015
Africanah.org, Yvette Gresie, May 2014
https://www.jackbellgallery.com/artists/63-armand-boua/overview/
https://www.jackbellgallery.com/artists/63-armand-boua/press/
https://www.jackbellgallery.com/artists/63-armand-boua/publications/
https://www.jackbellgallery.com/artists/63-armand-boua/news/