Press release expo city trip saadio

OUT OF AFRICA GALLERY– SITGES (BARCELONA) Press Release Artist: Title:

SAADIO (Senegal - Painting) CITY TRIP

Opening: Date: Venue: Contact: Web: Social networks:

8 p.m. Saturday April 15, meet the artist, jam session and cava cocktail 8/4 – 28/5/2017 Out of Africa Gallery, C./ Mayor 7, 08870 Sitges (Barcelona), Spain Sorella Acosta – sorella@galeria-out-of-africa.com - +34 618 356 351 www.galeria-out-of-africa.com Out of Africa Gallery @OutofAfrica_Art @outofafricagallery artsy.net & GGAC (Gremio de Galerías de Arte de Cataluña)

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To look at SAADIO's paintings, is like reading hieroglyphics.

SAADIO - «100% Afric» - 2016 – 100cm H x 150cm W – Acrylic on canvas

To look at SAADIO's paintings, is like reading hieroglyphics. Magnificent, yet reserved for the initiated. Introduced by his family to the Peulh signs and the cosmogenic mysteries of the Dogon, this guardian of mysteries in turn uses symbols to express the evolution of the African society, the confrontation of traditional rituals in the heart of African contemporary society. These sacred elements are to be found in the mysterious presence of animals lost in an urban maze: hens, crocodiles, snakes, fish, a truly traditional symbolism at the core of a city that is alive, colourful, redolent, where thousands of people are on the move, whether by car, motorbike or walking, as planes fly overhead.

The African city, a city of signboards

SAADIO – «Kodak» - 2016 – 150cm H x 100cm W – Acrylic on canvas

Dakar's walls speak, almost literally. There is an abundance of graffiti and billboards. The city is discovered by means of its walls. This colourful urban microcosm, these popular symbols are made prominent by SAADIO often in a nostalgic manner, like in his artwork titled “ Kodak”, where he recovers the photographic studios of Dakar that worked in the past with Kodak film. SAADIO isolates the observed object and integrates it into a background of symbols painted like hieroglyphics.

SAADIO – «Africa my home» - 2016 – 60cm H x 120cm W – Acrylic on canvas

The African city is also a city of tricksters, of odd jobs: salesmen pushing cell-phone credit, sellers of milky Nescafé coffee at breakfast, « La vache qui rit » cheese sellers, sellers of peanuts, of handkerchiefs, of biscuits with sesame seeds... The people manage; try their luck in the midst of this whirlwind of movement.

SAADIO, his beginnings … and in 2012 recognition Following the production of a mural at the Sicap Baobab of Dakar in 1990, Saadio settles on Ngor Island in 1997. A regular visitor to the workshops of local artists, Saadio becomes the organiser of art festivals on the island. Tracked down by gallery owner Aude Minart in 2004, he participates in a group show at the «Galerie Africaine » in Paris. He also participates in numerous editions of the DAK’ART OFF in cooperation with Arte gallery, Horizon channel and Agora gallery. In 2008 the Ministry of Culture selects him to represent Senegal in the French Pavilion at the Exposición Universal in Zaragoza (Spain). From 2011 the artistic world began to discover his style and in that same year he participated in group exhibitions in Fribourg (Germany), on Gorée Island (Senegal) as part of the « Regards sur cours » art festival, was invited by the company Eiffage for its 85th anniversary and participated in the XEEX Art Festival at the Dakar city hall. It is however in 2012 with the « Y’en a marre » series, when Saadio gets involved with the mobilisation in favour of the new government of President Macky Sall and Minister of Culture Youssou N’Dour, that the art critics recognise his artistic value.

«CITY TRIP», SAADIO exports his style to Barcelona

SAADIO - «Paris - New-York - Barcelone » - 2016 – 150cm H x 100cm W – Acrylic on canvas

For the exhibition «CITY TRIP», showing from the 8th of April to the 28th of May 2017 at the Out of Africa Gallery in Sitges (Barcelona), SAADIO has produced ten urban canvases that include symbols from other cities such as Paris, New York or Barcelona.

BIOGRAPHY SAADIO, birth name Mamadou Sadio DIALLO Born 2nd February 1965 in Dakar (Senegal) Artist since 1990 EXHIBITIONS Solo exhibitions

2017 - CITY TRIP – Out of Africa gallery – Sitges (Barcelona), Spain 2014-2016 - Permanent exhibition in Villa 126 – Dakar, Senegal 2012 - DAK’ART OFF – Agency Senegambie – Dakar, Senegal 2007 - Koné & Pounder Space Gallery – Los Angeles, USA - «Le constat» - Boribana Museum – Dakar, Senegal

Group Exhibitions 2014 - DAK’ART OFF – Villa 126 – Dakar, Senegal 2013 - Festival «Regards sur cours» – Gorée Island, Senegal 2012 - «One night for Dakar» – Fine Arts School – Herzele, Belgium - Dakar Women’s group – Dakar, Senegal 2011 - Festival « Joko » – Ngor Island, Senegal - Festival « XEEX Art » – Dakar City Hall, Senegal - 85th Anniversary exhibition of the company Eiffage – Dakar, Senegal - « Regards sur cours » Festival – Gorée Island, Senegal - Dakar Women’s group – Dakar, Senegal - Fribourg, Germany 2010 - Fund raising exhibition in favour of the earthquake victims - Walu - Haiti - Artistic get together with artists from Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, France, Economic Community of West African States, New African Initiative states, Bamako, Mali - DAK’ART OFF – Agora Space – Dakar, Senegal 2009 - Dakar Women’s Group – Dakar, Senegal 2008 - Universal Exhibition – French Pavilion - Zargoza, Spain - DAK’ART OFF – Horizon Chanel – Dakar, Senegal - DAK’ART OFF – Arte Gallery – Dakar, Senegal - Exhibition organized by Senegalese collector Pape Kame - Veneto, Italy - Exhibition of the Plateau artists - FESMIR – Sorano – Dakar, Senegal 2007 - Dakar Women’s group – Dakar, Senegal 2006 - DAK’ART OFF - Ngor Island, Senegal 2004

- Galerie Africaine – Aude Minart – Paris, France 2002 - CAEDAS (Wives Committee of Accredited Diplomats in Senegal) – Dakar, Senegal 2002 - Bleu Gallery – Dakar, Senegal 1999 - International Fair of Young Artists – National Gallery – Dakar, Senegal 1994 - Blaise Diagne Cultural Centre – Dakar, Senegal

Others

2012 – Illustration for the book « La vie à Dakar » 1997 – Workshops on Ngor Island – Senegal 1990 – Mural in Sicap Baobab – Dakar, Senegal

Private Collections - Magri Collection, Italy - Serge Le Poultier Collection, France - Belgian collection - Cécile Pounder Collection, USA (Boribana Museum) – Dakar, Senegal