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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Frédéric Bruly Bouabré: World Unbound

Mar 13 – Aug 13, 2022
11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019, United States

“I do not work from my imagination,” said the late Frédéric Bruly Bouabré. “I observe, and what I see delights me.” Bouabré was Ivorian, and on a hot day back in March, 1948, he had a vision. He described the heavens opening before him, the sight of seven suns, and then a change in his sense of self. “I became Cheik Nadro: ‘He who does not forget.’” After that fateful day, Bouabré embarked on a spiritual journey across Africa. He became an expert in philosophy, religion, and tradition. This survey covers Bouabré’s immense production from the 1970s until his death in 2014. Highlights include hundreds of postcard-size illustrations he did on cardboard salvaged in Abidjan, his neighborhood in Côte d’Ivoire. —Elena Clavarino

Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, “Ô, Dear black power, if you sit on ‘world‑trone,’ let ‘God’ to lead peacefully your heart, in love of human‑kind of all colour: Aie l’amour de toute humaine couleur!!!!,” 1993. Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art and the Jean Pigozzi Collection of African Art.