Alioune DIAGNE Le penseur sur les rails (Senegalese... Lot 5

Alioune DIAGNE Le penseur sur les rails (Senegalese Market Scene series) - 2019 Acrylic on canvas Signed, dated and titled on the back 60 × 81 cm Acrylic on canvas ; signed, dated and titled on the reverse 23.62 × 31.89 in. Provenance : We are Partners, Paris Acquired directly from the latter by the current owner Alioune DIAGNE Quote: "What people say most often during my exhibitions is that they see their alphabet in my paintings. I've met people from different cultures, such as Ethiopians, Israelis and many others. I think that in my paintings, there's something like the essence of universal writing. In any case, I like this idea" - Interview by Laurent Filipi, published on October 20, 2019 on the France Info website. Born in Kaffrine in 1985, Alioune Diagne entered the École des Beaux-Arts de Dakar in 2008, and lives and works between Senegal and France. Alioune Diagne's work attracted particular attention at the 2022 Dakar Biennial, and in early 2024 the Galerie Templon in Paris organized a solo exhibition of the artist's work. This year, Alioune Diagne was selected to represent Senegal at the 60th Venice Biennale. A self-proclaimed leader and inventor of the "figuro-abstro" movement, Diagne's work is built around calligraphic symbols, an imaginary universal alphabet. Up close, the tightly-packed letters follow one another, and the eye loses itself in this writing that is at once inaccessible and highly identifiable. From a distance, the pixels of color fall into place to form a vision, an arrangement of signs that reveal a very contemporary image. Depicting everyday scenes and testimonies from Senegalese society and the diaspora, these gentle yet committed images set the stage for the artist's deep reflection on current issues such as migration movements, ecology, but also the place of women in society and the notion of transmission or inheritance. This work from the "Senegalese market scene" series is a fine example of Alioune Diagne's unique technique. The symbols fall into place, revealing a market scene that is both intimate and universal. Born in Kaffrine in 1985, Alioune Diagne graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Dakar in 2008 and now lives and works between Senegal and France. His work attracted particular attention at the 2022 Dakar Biennial, and in early 2024, Galerie Templon in Paris organized a solo exhibition of the artist's work. This year, Alioune Diagne was selected to represent Senegal at the 60th Venice Biennale. A self-proclaimed leader and inventor of the "figuro-abstro" movement, the artist's works are built around calligraphic symbols, an imaginary universal alphabet. Up close, the tightly packed letters follow one another, and the eye loses itself in this writing that is at once inaccessible and highly identifiable. From a distance, the pixels of color fall into place to form a vision, an arrangement of signs that reveal a very contemporary image. Depicting everyday scenes and testimonies from Senegalese society and the diaspora, these gentle yet committed images set the stage for the artist's profound reflection on current issues such as migration movements, ecology, the place of women in society, and the notion of transmission or inheritance. This work from the "Senegalese market scenes" series is a fine example of Alioune Diagne's unique technique. The symbols fall into place, revealing a market scene that is both intimate and universal.