I stumbled across this artist unexpectedly in the Saatchi Gallery’s exhibition of ‘new art from Africa and Latin America’ called PANGAEA II, whilst I was in London at easter. These works gripped me immediately when I entered the gallery but I was especially drawn in by the process of making them. I have felt drawn to cardboard already this year but now even more so. I love the way Boua works into the surface of the work and mixes media. He seems on the verge of destroying the support althogether – the pieces are a bit like ancient fragments rather than very recent work. His figures, like mine, are suggested and I prefer the ones where there are no features. I must confess I was expecting to find more interest in the Latin American artists as I maybe know more about the culture and history but the African artists were unexpectedly more directly helpful to me. I do not have very much understanding of the history or contemporary conflict in Africa and need to look at this context for the work.
2013
Tar and acrylic on cardboard
82 x 95 cm
These and others are children – disenfranchised and anonymous. According the the website he creates formless figures and deals with the inhumanity he observes. Especially with the forgotten children it is suggested this is a result of his experience in Abidjan and the violent and difficult local situation. He works with found materials acrylic paint and tar. I would say I feel there are very definite forms here but with no details. One feels the presence and the anonymity of it. I am thinking of new ways to add wheat pasting to the abandoned sites and as much as possible to keep what is there. In a way like a post industrial Andy Goldsworthy project where the materials are from the site and rearranged: the paint being the only addition.
Alison South ma fine art 