OMAR BA

A rising star of the African scene, Omar Ba (born 1977) is a complex artist whose every artwork acts as a politically-engaged metaphor of the continent’s challenges and position on the international stage. Combining ethnic references, nods to art history and hints at the most burning current events, his extremely elaborate canvases are populated with chimeras and unexpected hybridisations between real or imaginary worlds.

For his debut in New York, a city he discovered in 2019-2020, during his residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), Omar Ba explores the perception of black communities around the globe. Taking the work of historian-philosopher Valentin-Yves Mudimbe as a starting point, he questions the prejudices against African democracies, the historical and cultural dynamics that hinder individual freedoms on the continent as well as their consequences on Afro-American identity. For him, who has studied Fine Arts in Geneva and continues to live with one foot in Europe and one in his native country, the recent developments of Black Lives Matter have a direct impact on how African youth can now shape its own destiny.

Over the last 10 years, Omar Ba has shown his work in numerous international solo and group exhibitions, including, most recently, Omar Ba: Voyage au-delà de l’illusion (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, 2022), Omar Ba: Same Dream (Contemporary Calgary, Canada, 2020, Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal, 2019, and Power Plant Toronto, 2019), Global(e) Resistance (Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2020), Art/Afrique, le nouvel atelier (Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, 2017), the Afropolitan Festival (Bozar, Brussels, 2017), Afrique-Raconter le Monde (Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 2017), Le Havre – Dakar, Partager la mémoire (Le Havre natural history museum, 2017), and the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (London) and Biennale of Dakar in 2014 and 2022. His work can also be found in a number of public collections, including at the Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Centre Pompidou and Collection Louis Vuitton in Paris, the Collection Nationale Suisse in Basel, Switzerland, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

On Friday 9 September 2022, to mark the exhibition and as part of its annual Crossing The Line festival, the French Institute / Alliance Française (FIAF) will inaugurate the presentation of Omar Ba’s piece Clin d’oeil à Cheikh Anta Diop-Un continent à la recherche de son histoire (2017). The work will be accessible to the public on the ground floor of 22 E 60th St #1077, New York, NY 10022.

In November 2022, the Baltimore Museum of Art will organise a solo exhibition.

In December 2022, a major 224-page monograph surveying Omar Ba’s oeuvre since 2016 will be published in English and French.