Mederic Turay

Back in Abidjan, 1995, he realized his childhood dream and began studying visual arts. He graduated from the Fine Arts School (INSAAC) in 1999 and excelled. He has won many competitions and awards, going as far as being the best young visual artist in West Africa at only 20 years old.

From his first consecration to 2018, the artist counts no less than one hundred and sixty-seven works, fourteen distinctions, twenty collective and solo exhibitions and a dozen or so auctions. This prodigy demonstrates his maturity by transcending the disciplinary barriers to impose his style: the “sculpeinture”, an assembly of sculpture and painting that combines traditional materials (such as wood, cowries, superimposed canvases) and modern techniques (mixed media using acrylic paint). Language is metaphorical and universal. He speaks of Africa and the world through polysemic signs, symbols, allusions; explore other places and tell other stories in history, to create the “Trace” of humanity.

The works of the so-called “African Basquiat” has earned him a growing reputation today and his works are present in prestigious collections (Charles Saatchi in London, Ethan Cohen in New York …)

“My paintings are the assembly of objects of various origins, each piece is part of a whole, elements of a game, which I can meet, juxtaposed. Acrylic paint, oil pastel and coffee are my artistic instruments of choice. I believe that what is inside is reflected outside. That’s why I’m attracted to human faces. My work is an attempt to grasp the peculiarities that make a person without an anonymous face. Although all of them were inspired by real life. My style of execution can be very abstract as figurative, but construction and de-construction are part of the same energy that I try to master. By this I always try to inject a form of fantasy to my paintings. I repeat my signs and words in my works because I am part of the world and the proof of a reality sometimes repressed.

Some signs often come back in my paintings: the red apple, the barred words, the mouths of some characters crossed by a cross. The apple has for me a religious connotation. She is very often represented as a trigger for sinning in our religions. For my characters with large mouth and drawn sometimes in the form of a mask, this is my way of presenting human beings as I see them: Wicked, happy, selfish, full of kindness sometimes mischievous etc …

I add words and poems that I find instantly in my work. They are not very often thought; I guide my inspiration on unknown paths that sometimes lead the public to reflection. I really like to ask the public about my work. When I block certain words or phrases, it allows the audience to pay even more attention to certain coded messages sometimes. “

“I define myself more as a neo-expressionist with a street art fusion. “

Beyond aesthetics, Turay’s work uses art to describe societies and to proclaim the expectations of those we cannot hear. Strange characters populate his paintings and sculptures. If their faces are reminiscent of African masks, other cultures influence Turay’s style, which oscillates between neo-impressionism, cubism and graffiti. Indeed, his compositions are reminiscent of Jacques Grinberg or Julien Schabnel, two other neo-impressionists.

Turay is an African poet who has followed a classical training in art. In “African Dreamer”, we can also recognize a re-visited Mona Lisa, a Venus dressed in an Ivorian dress with eccentric patterns, or an African Madonna who mourns her son. Under cover of this title, he appropriates the concept of the “American Dream”. The American dream is American precisely, the Americans have a homeland of which they are proud and affirm that everything is possible there. Why would it not be the same in Africa? African youth must absolutely be able to take risks if they are determined to see Africa change. We need committed youth who will do what is necessary to live an African dream.