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Lot Essay
A Côte d'Ivoire native, Aboudia, or Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, finds his inspiration in the streets of Abidjan, particularly in its children. Throughout most of his oeuvre, Aboudia highlights the youth and spirit of the children that inhabit the streets of his home, citing them and the graffiti they produce as the main inspiration behind his creative process. Emulating their street art through his visual aesthetic, as well as through his use of accessible mediums, found materials, and paper scraps, Aboudia’s work remains a tribute to the youth of Côte d'Ivoire. Remarking on their influence on his work, the artist has stated, “the place of children in my work is very important, in that it is these children I love the most, who inspire me and who are the foundation of what I create.”
It was this passion for the impoverished youth of his city that initially spurred Aboudia’s rise in the global art scene. The work he created during the violent fallout of the 2010 political upset in Côte d'Ivoire took hold across the globe for its harrowing explorations of the struggle to maintain boyhood innocence as war ravages any light in its path. Featuring muted color palettes, violent motifs of skulls and gunfire, and hollowed out bodies with empty ribcages, these works detail the loss suffered by the most vulnerable in a community in strife.
A significant divergence from the chilling paintings of war torn Côte d'Ivoire, Môgô’s Dream #2 embodies a new vision for the people of Abidjan as they emerge from a period of tension and animosity. Executed in 2019, a highly esteemed year for the artist, Môgô’s Dream #2 springs from the canvas in brilliant color with an aura of vitality and whimsy. Môgô, the subject of the work and a Nouchi word meaning “lad” or “the people,” sprawls across the canvas in boyish blue, his blood-red lungs filling his chest with the life and spirit of the impassioned scribblings around him. A sea of electric pink scrawled upon with childlike exuberance, Môgô’s Dream #2 expresses Aboudia’s hope for the môgôs of Abidjan in the wake of the traumatic unrest less than a decade prior: a reclamation of youth in the face of its absence. A child at his side, Môgô embraces the childhood that had been ripped away through conflict, no longer drained of color or vigor, no longer a hollowed body.
It was this passion for the impoverished youth of his city that initially spurred Aboudia’s rise in the global art scene. The work he created during the violent fallout of the 2010 political upset in Côte d'Ivoire took hold across the globe for its harrowing explorations of the struggle to maintain boyhood innocence as war ravages any light in its path. Featuring muted color palettes, violent motifs of skulls and gunfire, and hollowed out bodies with empty ribcages, these works detail the loss suffered by the most vulnerable in a community in strife.
A significant divergence from the chilling paintings of war torn Côte d'Ivoire, Môgô’s Dream #2 embodies a new vision for the people of Abidjan as they emerge from a period of tension and animosity. Executed in 2019, a highly esteemed year for the artist, Môgô’s Dream #2 springs from the canvas in brilliant color with an aura of vitality and whimsy. Môgô, the subject of the work and a Nouchi word meaning “lad” or “the people,” sprawls across the canvas in boyish blue, his blood-red lungs filling his chest with the life and spirit of the impassioned scribblings around him. A sea of electric pink scrawled upon with childlike exuberance, Môgô’s Dream #2 expresses Aboudia’s hope for the môgôs of Abidjan in the wake of the traumatic unrest less than a decade prior: a reclamation of youth in the face of its absence. A child at his side, Môgô embraces the childhood that had been ripped away through conflict, no longer drained of color or vigor, no longer a hollowed body.