Dubai-based contemporary art gallery specialising in artists of African origin, Efie Gallery announces its representation of the pioneering Malian artist Abdoulaye Konaté with an exhibition (10 October 2024 – 6 January 2025). Titled Sambadio, this solo show includes a new monumental 9-meter work and is inspired by the final track of Malian musician Ali Farka Touré’s iconic 1976 album Le Jeune Chansonnier du Mali. The song, titled Sambadio, celebrates farmers with lyrics reflecting a father’s passionate plea for his son to honor the earth. In a similar vein, Konaté’s latest works draw upon themes of Bedouin culture, the nomadic desert Arabs, integrating motifs that pay tribute to their profound relationship with the land, drawing parallels between West-African and Middle Eastern culture.
Abdoulaye Konaté, Born in Mali 1953, creates large-scale textile-based installations using woven and dyed clothes, materials native to his homeland Mali. Konaté’s abstract and figurative tableaux explore both aesthetic language and diverse socio-political and environmental issues. Referring to the West- African tradition of using textiles as a means of communication, the artist balances the global issues with an intimate reference to his own life and country. His works are present in many prestigious public and private collections including: Centre Pompidou, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Smithsonian Museum, Washington; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Arken Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishøj, amongst many others.
This exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with contributing writers Simon Njami, Ousseynou Wade and Professor Yacouba Konaté . Njami is an independent lecturer, curator, and art critic. He has curated numerous exhibitions of African art and photography, including the first African pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, Die Andere Reise/The Other Journey: Africa and the Diaspora, Kunsthalle Krems, Vienna (1996), Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf (2004–07, traveling to London, Paris, Tokyo, and Johannesburg), and As You Like It, the first African contemporary art fair in Johannesburg (2008).
Wade is currently advisor to the Director General of the Museum of Black Civilizations, formerly serving in the cabinet of Senegal’s Ministry of Culture as technical advisor and as General Secretary of the Biennale of Contemporary African Art, organizing the Dakar biennial for six editions. Professor Konaté is an Ivorian curator, writer and art critic. He is a professor of philosophy at the Université de Cocody in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and a member of l’Académie des Arts, des Sciences et des Cultures d’Afrique et des Diasporas in Abidjan. In 2004, he was one of the curators of individual exhibitions of 6th Dak’Art with Ivo Mesquita and Hans Ulrich Obrist and in 2006, he was the Artistic Director of the Dakar Biennale.
Additionally, Efie Gallery makes its debut at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair from November 20-24, 2024. The gallery’s booth (M1) features a new work by Abdoulaye Konaté and Tunisie, a large-scale work created in 2023, is highlighted by the fair’s director Dyala Nussibeh and features in the special projects exhibition In and Around. The booth also showcases a large-scale new woodwork by the internationally revered artist El Anatsui (b. 1944, Gold Coast, now Ghana), free standings sculptures by the pioneering Emirati artist Dr. Mohamed Yousif (b.1953, United Arab Emirates) who makes his art fair debut and photography from the acclaimed Water Life Series by Aïda Muluneh (b.1974, Ethiopia).
Since its inception in 2021 and the opening of its permanent space in 2022, Efie Gallery has been establishing itself as a global platform working with some of Africa’s most significant artists. Dedicated to the representation and advancement of both established and emerging artists from Africa and the diaspora, Efie Gallery supports the cross-cultural exchange of artists’ work across the Middle East and beyond. In addition to its roster of wide-ranging artists and exhibitions, Efie Gallery operates a dynamic residency programme that focuses on artist promotion, protection and preservation.
