Yéanzi

A close and tangible social network is the starting point of Yéanzi's art. In his work, gazes, attitudes and bodies are constantly in motion. The artist uses accounts and records of people’s stories on a canvas covered with press cuttings, snippets of news, which he paints and mixes in successive layers, passages and tumults. In a painting made without a brush, but with fire, and as it passes through the flames, the plastic becomes colourful and transforms itself, leaving small deposits of its material on the support. As if trying to unravel the mystery of what it is that gives us the power to constantly redefine ourselves, combustion acts as a balance between mind and body, weighing what is lost, what resists and what melts. ...

Galerie Cecile Fakhoury opened its doors in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in September 2012. In May 2018, the gallery inaugurated its second space in Dakar, Senegal and a showroom in Paris, France. Shortly after, in March 2020, a new project space dedicated to emerging artists from Africa opened in Abidjan. In October 2021, Galerie Cecile Fakhoury inaugurated another gallery, opening in the 8th arrondissement of Paris on Avenue Matignon. The gallery promotes contemporary art from Africa and the Diaspora by providing visibility to the artistic diversity and creative spirit from the continent. Through its programming of solo and group exhibitions, participation in international art fairs, biennales, and collaboration with international galleries, Cecile Fakhoury is a leading force putting contemporary African art on the global map. The artists represented by the gallery are distinguished by their cultural identities and stories, they create a new language that crosses geographical boundaries and familiarities. They are observers of the world they live in, critics of society, and committed to their positions living within complex histories. In turn, they ask us to reconsider our own relation to the world. ...