Ernest Dükü, Akiineh

The Finest Artist in the London 

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair

Ernest Dükü, Akiineh 

When?: October 14-18th, 2015
Where?: 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair
Somerset House, Strand,
London WC2R 1LA

Info :
Bio (pdf)
Press Release (pdf)

www.ernest-duku.com

www.1-54.com 
 

Ivory Coast painter and sculptor Ernest Dükü was an architect and designer before dedicating himself exclusively to his readings and dreams transformed into paintings. It all starts with words, the mysterious heart of life, to shows things than cannot be written.

In Ernest Düku’s work textures, colours, signs are deeply intertwined. Traditional Akan signs engage dialogue with Egyptian, Ethiopian, Caribbean, Christian, Islamic, Jewish symbols to achieve well-balanced, rhythmic and contemporary results. The “mixture” is the sum of all the unsaid words we have in our heads and an open invitation to a peaceful rebirth.

His work constantly questions memory and identity by reading the post-colonial culture and understanding religion syncretism and history. It is everywhere in his latest Akiineh series.

© Ernest Dükü
Kurumaawale @ what a wonderful world. 2014
Drawing on creased paper
Format: 44 x 65 cm

© Ernest Dükü
Tombé du ciel @ metaphisikawale
Drawing on creased paper
Format: 65 x 44 cm

© Ernest Dükü
Seinbolyquement votre. 2013
Drawing on creased paper
Format: 63 x 48 cm

Ernest Dükü

(S)ITOR / Sitor Senghor

Born in 1958 in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire. Lives and works in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and Paris, France. 

Ernest Dükü | Artist

Prior to dedicating himself to transmuting dream sequences and readings into textural paintings, Côte d’Ivoire painter and sculptor Ernest Dükü worked as an architect and designer. According to Dükü, producing artwork is an act of unveiling; art exposes a visual language that exceeds words.

Texture, colour, and symbols are deeply interconnected in Düku’s practice. Traditional Akan signs are drawn into dialogue with those of Egyptian, Ethiopian, Caribbean, Christian, Islamic, and Jewish cultures and languages. Düku’s latest series Akiineh, deals directly with questions of memory, identity, the postcolonial socio-cultural condition, and religious syncretism.