Souleymane Konaté Ivorian, b. 1983

Souleymane Konaté (b. 1983, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire) lives and works in Abidjan.

 Souleymane Konaté is a self-taught Ivorian painter and sculptor whose practice explores identity, mythology, and freedom through a highly distinctive visual language. Emerging in the context of Côte d’Ivoire’s socio-political upheavals of the early 2000s, his work reflects a generational desire to break from academic conventions and to articulate new forms of expression grounded in imagination, resilience, and collective renewal.

Growing up in Abidjan, Konaté immersed himself in art from an early age, frequenting museums and galleries and forming close relationships with local artists. Before dedicating himself fully to painting, he worked as a calligrapher and developed a clothing brand, experiences that sharpened his sensitivity to line, rhythm, and graphic composition. During the years of political crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, Konaté joined a cohort of artists working in shared studios who sought to move beyond established figuration and abstraction, embracing bold colour, collage, and urban visual codes.

Konaté is best known for his fantastical hybrid figures—part human, animal, and vegetal—drawn from his imagination and informed by Bambara cosmogony, particularly the belief that the first human emerged from an acacia tree. His work is also shaped by influences ranging from Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí to Frédéric Bruly Bouabré. Typically depicted in pairs or groups, these figures evoke cohesion, community, and coexistence between humanity and nature. Working primarily in acrylic on canvas, Konaté builds his compositions through layered processes that include splashing, marbling, and collage, enriched by recurring symbols such as stars, flowers, and dots. He extends this pictorial universe into three dimensions through sculptural works in wood.

Konaté has exhibited widely across Africa, Europe, and the United States. His solo exhibitions include presentations at Fondation Donwahi, Walls House of Art, and Villa Fruity in Abidjan, Marie José Gallery in London, Kennaxu Gallery in Shenzhen (2024), and House of the Future II: Common Grounds at OpenArtExchange, Schiedam (2025). He has participated in international events such as African Art Beats (Washington, D.C.), the Dak’Art Biennale OFF programme (Senegal), and major group exhibitions in Morocco, Congo-Brazzaville, Switzerland, Germany, and France. His work is held in significant collections, including the African Art Beats Collection in Washington, D.C. In 2020, he was awarded first prize in the Young Talents in Contemporary Art competition organised by Société Générale Côte d’Ivoire, affirming his position as a leading contemporary artist of his generation.