Contemporary African Art Gallery, 330 West 108th St, New York, NY

Viye Diba: Couleurs de kayar

Viye Diba, as a relatively young artist, is well respected and recognized in his own country. He is a professor of art education, the president of the National Association of Plastic Artists and the winner of the Grand Prix at the important Biennial: Dak'Art '98. He is almost as well recognized on the African continent, having been invited to show at both of the Johannesburg Biennials. Outside of Africa, Viye Diba has had one man shows Germany, France, Belgium and Spain, with his show at the Contemporary African Art Gallery being his first one man show in America.

El Anatsui is a Ghanaian who has been teaching art at the University of Nigerian, Nsukka for the last 24 years. He has exhibited, and is collected, throughout the world and was one of just seven artists chosen for the exhibit at the Smithsonian=s National Museum of African Art which inaugurated the first space in an American museum which exclusively shows contemporary African art. El has also enjoyed wide coverage in the print media and was one of only two Africans in a 1997 book entitled New Art, which was published by the art book publisher: Abrams.

Jean-Michel Basquiat met Ouattara in Paris and was immediately taken with the power of his work. With Basquiat's introductions and the strength of his own work, Ouattara established himself in New York, although he maintains ties to Paris and his native Ivory Coast. Ouattara has been the featured artist in the contemporary French art magazine Revue Noire. He is the only contemporary African artists to be shown twice at the Museum for African Art in Soho. Ouattara is in an exclusive club of only ten Africans who have exhibited at the Venice Biennale.