Abdoulaye Konaté

born in 1953 in Diré (Mali)

«Different dyeing as medium for knowing the other and for acting on him. The colours have the role of enhance the energy or power of either textile and individual». M. Pastoreau

A symphony of colours, a wide deep research through symbol and essence, this is the path Abdoulaye Konaté is crossing in his latest works. It’s impossible to look at his artworks remaining emotionless. Konaté’s joyful compositions bring us in a universe filled with symbols, in an atmosphere charged of significances. Even if the political issue is cast aside, his language is unchanged, always strong, substantial, stripped of every unfoundamental decoration, forged to speak of Human and Nature through a simple medium, such as the colour. The language of colours is made of extrinsic impressions but also internal affections.

Born in 1953 in Diré, Mali, Abdoulaye Konaté studied painting at the Institut National des Arts in Bamako and then at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba. Notable exhibitions include "Metropolis Afrique Capitales" at the Grand Halles de la Villette, Paris, France (2017) and "Abdoulaye Konaté" at the Arken Musem of Copenhagen, Denmark (2016). He currently lives and works in Bamako.

Solo Exhibitions (selected)

2022

Hommage à Abdoulaye Konaté, l’étoffe d’un

maître - Biennale de Dakar, Sénégal

Des Petits Formats à Dakar - Grand Théâtre National,

Dakar, Sénégal

2021

Abdoulaye Konaté - Les Petits Tableaux, Primae

Noctis Art Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland

Abdoulaye Konaté - Lune Bleue, Espace Dominique

Bagouet, Montpellier

Abdoulaye Konaté , The Diffusion of Infinite Things,

Standing Pine, Nagoya, Japan

2020
Idéogrammes, signes, symboles et logos, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town

2019

Couleurs d’âme, Blain|Southern New York, US

2018

Textile in Art, The Red Door Gallery, Lagos, NG

2017

Etoffe des songes, Galerie 38, Casablanca, MA;

Espace Expressions CDG, Rabat, MA

2016

Abdoulaye Konaté, Primae Noctis Art Gallery, Lugano, CH

Abdoulaye Konaté: Symphonie en couleur, Blain|Southern

London, UK

Abdoulaye Konaté, Arken Museum for Moderne Kunst,

Copenhagen, DK

2015

Abdoulaye Konaté, Norrköping Konstmuseum, Norrköping, SW
Abdoulaye Konaté, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, IT
Southern Panoramas, 19th Festival Contemporary Art Festival, Sao Paulo, BR

2014
Abdoulaye Konaté Solo Show, Le Manège, Centre Culturel Francais, Dakar, SN

2013
The World in Textile, Afrika Museum, Berg En Dal, NL
Abdoulaye Konaté, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, IT

2012
ESADHar - L'Ecole Supérieure D'Art & Design, Le Havre, FR
Project Window, Iniva, Rivington Place, London, GB

2011
La Toile de Abdoulaye Konaté, Galerie National de Dakar, Dakar, SN

2010
Exposition Rétrospective, Biennale de Dakar, Dakar, SN

2009
Abdoulaye Konaté: Textile, Forum für Kunst, Heidelberg, DE

Group Exhibitions (selected)

2022

Documenta 15, Kassel, GermanyExpo Dubai

2020, Mali Pavillon, Dubai, UAEStill Alive, Aichi Triennale, Japon

2021The black era, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy

Threads, Zwartzusters monastery, Antwerp,Duende

Art Projects2020“Global(e) Resistance” at Centre Pompidou, Paris

2019
Hier est la mémoire d’aujourd’hui at L’Espace Commines, Paris, FR (forthcoming)
Boundless Encounters: The 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Hangzhou, CN (forthcoming)
On the Spiritual Matter of Art, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, IT (forthcoming)
KUBATANA: An Exhibition with Contemporary African artists, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Oslo, NO
Lend Me Your Dream / Prête-moi Ton Rêve, Le Studio des Arts Vivants, L’Artorium, Casablanca, MA
Museum of Black Civilizations, Dakar, SN; The Contemporary Arts Rotonde, Abidjan, CI; Lagos, NG; Cape Town, ZA; African Union Headquarters, Addis-Abeba, ET; Rabat, MA
La construcción de lo possible, 13th Havana Biennial, CU

2018
African Civilizations: Continuous Creation of Humanity, Museum of Black Civilizations, Dakar, SN
New Materialism, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, SE
African Metropolis. An imaginary city, MAXXI, Rome, IT Ravelled Threads, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, US
Talisman in the Age of Difference, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
Pulling at Threads, Norval Foundation, SA
Mobile Worlds or The Museum of our Transcultural Present, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, DE
The Liar’s Cloth, Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam, NL

2017
The Black Sphinx: from Morocco to Madagascar, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, IT
Il Cacciatore Bianco (The White Hunter), Frigoriferi Milanesi, Milan, IT
Afriques Capitales, Grand Halles de la Villette, Paris, FR
Vers le Cap de Bonne-Espérance, Lille, FR

2016
Still (the) Barbarians, Eva International Ireland’s Biennale, Cleeve’s Condensed Milk Factory, Limerick City, IE
Abdoulaye Konaté et le Mali, Effage, Dakar, SN

2015
Streamlines: Oceans, Global Trade And Migration, The Hall For Contemporary Art, Hamburg, DE
Lumières D'Afrique, Palais Chaillot, Paris, FR
Obsession, Maison Particulière, Bruxelles, BE

2014
The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, DE
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, US
Decorum, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, FR

2013
Métamorphoses, Musée Bargoin, Clermont-Ferrand, FR

2012
Hollandaise, SMBA, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
We face forward: Art from West Africa today, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, GB

2011
Mixités, Les chantiers de la Lune, La Seyne-sur-Mer, FR
Dégagements... La Tunisie un an aprés, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, FR

2010
Art Actuel d’Afrique, Collégiale Saint-André, Chartres, FR

2009
Africa? Una Nuova Storia, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, IT

2008
Artes Mundi, National Museum, Cardiff, IE

2007
Africa Remix, Museum Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf, DE
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, JP
Documenta 12, Kassel, DE

2006
The Unhomely, Phantom Scenes in Global Society, Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla, ES

2003
Musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains de Lausanne, CH
Le Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, BE

2002
Musée de Picardie, Amiens, FR

1998
Routes of Passage, Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, ZA

1997
Die Anderen Modernen, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, DE

1996
The Other Journey, Kunsthalle Krems, AT

1995
Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, FR

1986
Artistes Maliens et Soviétiques au Palais de la Culture, Palais de la Culture, Bamako, ML

Public Collections

Arken Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishøj, DK
Banque des Etats de l’Afrique Occidentale, Dakar, SN
Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
Dak’Art, Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain, SN
Foundation Blachère, Apt, FR
Fondation Guy & Myriam Ullens, Geneva, CH
Fundação Sindika Dokolo, AO
Gare do Oriente, Lisbon, PO
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, US
Musée National du Mali, Bamako, ML
Musée Bargoin de la Ville de Clermont-Ferrand, FR
Palais Présidentiel du Mali, Bamako, ML
Smithsonian Museum, Washington, US
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
The Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Springs, US