Ouattara: Beyond Shamanism

OUATTARA B E Y O N D S H A M A N I S M INTERVIEWED by Okwui Enwezor NEO PRIMITIVIZATION has been the bane of contemporary African artists. And no artist has come to exemplify many of its pitfalls and gains simultaneously than Ouattara. His pronouncements whereby he constantly refers to himself as the Shaman from the Senufo country have not helped matters much. In fact, they seem to beg such reading in his work which in reality defeats the complexity of the world which his work addresses. It seems hardly correct at this time to pin the burden which the neoprimitive tag carries on him for the simple fact that many critics have only fed the need of certain western critics failure to reckon with the irony which Ouattara intends to convey. Arguing that "people forget you if you do not speak up," Ouattara and I sat down in his cavernous studio to explore the issues facing contemporary African artists today. OKWUI ENWEZOR: Could you give me a brief synopsis of your background, particularly growing up in Ivory Coast? OUATTARA: I was born in Africa; West Africa , in Ivory Coast I don't know why I was born in Africa, perhaps I could have been born in Canada, Moscow, South America, in fact anywhere, I don't know. Anyway I was born and raised in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. I wish to read you a quote from a statement you made in a previous interview with Thomas McEvilley—you said: "I would like to say this, my vision is not based on a country or a continent , it's beyond geography, or what is seen on a map. It's much more than that. I hope people will understand it is beyond geography. Even though I localize it to make it understood better. It is wider than that. It refers to the cosmos." I think that's a very interesting comment, given that the mood of postmodernism at the moment is towards a refutation of universalism. g o Yeah, Yeah. Also I think I am a tree, water, sun, rain, I am a Russian, g Mexican, Asian, European, American. I am above all an artist. I am the ? person who drank of the light, so as to make it open for people. So for me it's about energy. g© Opposite: Ouattara, Meroe, 19 9 4 ( M i x e d - m e d i a o n c anvas a n d m e t a l : 9 6 " x I I I") P x a. While surveying the art world what has struck me is the whole notion of what art is in the last ten years. It seems the main issue for many artists is centered around the question of identity, about who they are. And here you are saying you are water, sun, rain...what makes you identify with all these elements? It comes from my education, because I went to the spiritual school in Africa. The spiritual school gives you the relation, the vision about the cosmos, not about one space; but about cosmos. That is my education. This spiritual school, the world of spirits, how does it really speak to your sensibility as an artist, particularly in the way you transpose that sensibility into your work? Ouattara, Nube, 19 9 4 ( M i x e d - m e d i a o n w o o d : 9 6 " x I 11" ) . I t > s a b ° u t concept. And it's also about energy, something like being a shaman or a sorcerer in a positive way. It is about communicating with the invisible. Tell me about the occasion of your meeting and ultimate friendship with JeanMichel Basquiat. During my previous visit to your studio you referred to having felt a kinship and bond with his work, that in fact you first thought he was an African artist, based on the level of its scope and awareness . When one looks at JeanMichel 's work, you can discern within it a sense that he has some kind of cultural memory. So I thought that he was from Africa even though he was...