Soly Cissé
La Reconquête
See
Soly Cissé, Senegalese artist, very well known on the contemporary art scene, is a versatile visual artist whose talents are expressed through a variety of mediums, such as acrylic painting, oil, sculpture, video and drawings. His work is characterized by an exploration of reality and imagination, tradition and modernity, human hybridization through bright color palettes and neo-expressionist compositions.
The sculptures in the “Gladiators” series illustrate the metamorphosis of the traditional Senegalese struggle into a professional and urban discipline, denouncing the loss of old traditions. This observation is illustrated by the use of artistic freedom without spatio-temporal borders.
In his series of paintings “Les Masques“, Soly Cissé addresses the theme of social and political hypocrisy by representing characters hidden behind integral helmets, symbolizing the false face that everyone can wear. It gives this series a universal dimension to the themes of identity, societal domination or fanaticism.
His new series of canvases “Ecosystems” explores nature as a major subject. These works call for a redefinition of the interaction of humans with their plant and animal environment. The artist denounces the inconsistencies and violence of contemporary society, while offering a lush floral representation like an “Eden” to be urgently preserved.
“My painting is far from my identity. I am a painter of the universe. My characters do not belong to a well-defined culture: I try to create a world of miscegenation where cultures rub and value each other.” S. Cissé.