Dakar, Dakar – Group Show

From April 1 to May 20, 2023, the exhibition Dakar, Dakar at MAGNIN-A gallery presents the work of two Senegalese artists whose artworks have been too rarely presented in Paris. While the exhibition Senghor et les arts at the Musée du Quai Branly explores the key role of the arts in Senegalese politics from 1960 to 1980, Dakar, Dakar confronts the long metal sculptures of Ndary Lo (1961-2017) and the vibrant paintings of Assane N’Doye (1952-2019).

Ndary Lo and Assane N’Doye have in common to represent the body and its movement but express it in a radically different way. Ndary Lo’s rectilinear and monochrome sculptures, which illustrate direct and linear movement in a purity of form and materials, contrast with the colors and sensual undulations of Assane N’Doye’s curvaceous bodies. Both of the same nationality and almost the same generation meet here for the first time and their works dialogue to question both tradition and modernity in Senegal.

While Hosties Noirs, one of Ndary Lo’s major works paying homage to Senghor’s work of the same name, is presented at the Musée du Quai Branly, it is interesting to observe in the practice of Ndary Lo and Assane N’Doye two different aspirations, conscious or unconscious. On the one hand, that of N’Doye who, without being affiliated with the School of Dakar, is in the wake of this movement, even though he left Senegal at a relatively young age. On the other hand, Ndary Lo, who has spent a significant part of his life in Dakar, has sought throughout his career to free himself from it.

The exhibition Dakar, Dakar, brings together the historical sculptures of Ndary Lo. His mythical long iron walkers, his men with arms reaching for the sky, his female bodies in bust or foot that respond to the softness of the curves of the female bodies and the flamboyant colors of the paintings of Assane N’Doye.

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