Aboudia Studio New York: New York, NY – 225 West 17th Street

Ethan Cohen Gallery is pleased to present Aboudia's latest solo exhibition, showcasing artworks created during his residency at Ethan Cohen’s new gallery location at 225 W 17th Street. Stepping into the gallery, visitors will be able to experience Aboudia's studio, gaining an immersive insight into his artistic process. Alongside his vibrant paintings, elements of Aboudia’s creative journey are preserved, offering a glimpse into his materials, influences, and artistic process.

This exhibition marks a significant milestone, as it not only represents Aboudia's seventh solo exhibition with the gallery but also celebrates a decade-long collaboration between the artist and Ethan Cohen. Aboudia Studio will be the first exhibition hosted in the gallery’s new Chelsea location, which Aboudia used as his New York studio over the past few months. Situated in a 4,300 square foot space and slated for a complete renovation in the fall of 2024 designed by Ai Weiwei, HHF Architects and Jee Won Kim, the space will be briefly open to showcase Aboudia’s new paintings created in situ.

In this exhibition, Aboudia's new collection of paintings boldly places the children of the street within expansive dreamscapes once more, reflecting a myriad of cultural influences spanning recent years. By way of using mixed media elements in his work, such as posters ripped from billboards from the streets of New York, cut outs from magazines, books, and other found materials, Aboudia bridges cultural divides, embodying a spirit of global interconnectedness. By depicting marginalized youth and incorporating symbolic elements like salvaged newspapers and magazines, Aboudia prompts a profound question: When will we recognize the discarded as integral parts of ourselves?

To deepen the conversation on cultural influence, Aboudia’s use of collage pays tribute to the late William Rubin, the former chief curator of the Museum of Modern Art, and the groundbreaking exhibition he curated at MoMA forty years ago which underscored the significance of Tribal and Oceanic Art in shaping Modernism. Among the leading contemporary African artists today, Aboudia incorporates collages of masks from this exhibition catalog in his painting to bring the conversation back to its roots, and into African art being made today.

Abdoulaye Diarrassouba a.k.a. Aboudia (b. 1983, Ivory Coast) draws inspiration from the graffiti, tribal art, and the street culture of his hometown Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Aboudia brilliantly portrays the street culture of urban Africa with complex paintings featuring street children’s faces intermixed with ghosts of tribal masks as part of his symbolic language. He draws on images that defined his early life growing up in poverty on African streets – street art, traditional tribal art, violence from the civil war, the poverty of the street children of Abidjan, and the social inequalities of his hometown – all of which he reimagines and condenses into complex and vivid paintings. Aboudia has been recognized globally as one of the most exciting emerging artists today. His work is featured in significant international private and public collections and has been featured in numerous art publications, the newest being his first monograph published by Rizzoli.

Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 11 am to 6pm. For press inquiries please contact danschwar@gmail.com. For other inquiries please contact the gallery at ecfa@ecfa.com.