Omar Ba
The artist
Born in 1977 in Senegal, Omar Ba lives and works in Dakar. His paintings, produced using a variety of techniques and materials, represent political and social motifs open to multiple interpretations. His artistic vocabulary raises historical and timeless questions while formulating a wholly contemporary artistic message. Omar Ba’s iconography features personal metaphors, ancestral references and hybrid figures. This combination of heterogeneous elements illustrates his desire to abolish boundaries and categories. His work, with its enigmatic nature and poetic intensity, rejects all forms of didactic narrative, seeking instead to express his subconscious and his symbolic interpretation of the real.
Exhibitions
Promises and Glory
September 3 - October 25, 2025
New York
Kaïdara
October 30 - December 28, 2024
Paris - Grenier Saint LazareDroit du sol – droit de rêver
September 7 - October 29, 2022
New YorkAnomalies
February 4 - March 27, 2021
BrusselsFrom the Paper to the Wall
June 6 - July 26, 2019
Brussels
Autopsie de nos consciences
September 8 – October 27, 2018
Paris - Grenier Saint LazareEclosion
June 2 - July 23, 2016
Brussels
Biography
| Birth | Born in 1977 in Senegal |
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| Residence | Lives and works in Dakar, Senegal |
| Education | ECAV-MAPS Arts in Public Spheres, Sierre, Switzerland Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-arts, Geneva, Switzerland Ecole National des Beaux-Arts, Senegal |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
| 2025 | Promises and Glory, TEMPLON, New York, USA |
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| 2024 | Kaïdara, TEMPLON, Paris, France Clin d’œil à Cheikh Anta Diop - Un continent à le recherche de son histoire, Siège de l’Organisation des Nations Unies, New York, USA TEMPLON, Paris, France |
| 2023 | Destins Communs, Kunsthalle, Mulhouse, France |
| 2022 | Omar Ba: Political Animals, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, USA Clin d’oeil, FIAF Gallery, New York, USA Right of Soil – Right to Dream, Templon, New York, USA A Journey Beyond Illusion / Voyage au-delà de l’illusion, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium |
| 2021 | Sommation, Wilde, Basel, Switzerland Anomalies, Galerie Templon, Brussels, Belgium |
| 2020 | Same Dream, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary, Canada |
| 2019 | Omar Ba : Visions partagées, Montreal Museum of Fina Arts, Montreal, Canada Same Dream, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada The power of objects, Wilde Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland |
Voir plus
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
| 2024 | Biennale de Dakar, Sénégal Avant-garde and liberation contemporary art and decolonial modernism, mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria |
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| 2020 | Global(e) Resistance, Musée national d’art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France |
| 2019 | From the Paper to the Wall, Galerie Templon, Brussels, Belgique |
| 2018 | 40 ans de passion, Omar Ba, Prune Nourry, Tunga, Fondation Fernet-Branca, Saint-Louis, France Quel Amour ?!, Musée d’art Contemporain, Marseille, France Afrique. Artistes d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, Fondation Clément, Martinique, France D’Afrique aux Amériques: Picasso en face-à-face, d’hier à aujourd’hui, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal, Canada |
| 2017 | Zoocryptage, Crypte Sainte-Eugénie, Biarritz, France Afrique, raconter le monde, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milano, Italy Le Havre – Dakar, Partager la mémoire, Muséum d'histoire naturelle du Havre, France Art/Afrique, Le Nouvel Atelier, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France En toute modestie – Archipel Di Rosa, Miam Sète, Sète, France Festival Afropolitan, Bozar Brussels, Belgique |
| 2016 | Salon d’Automne, Grand Palais, Paris, France Mauvaises Graines 2, Topographie de l'Art, Paris, France You Go To My Head, Galerie Templon, Brussels, Belgium |
| 2014 | Summer Exhibition 2014, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK Ici l’Afrique/ Here Africa. L’Afrique contemporaine à travers le regard de ses artistes, Château de Penthes, Geneva, Switzerland Authentik Energie, Le Manoir de la ville de Martigny, Martigny, Switzerland |
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PUBLIC COLLECTIONS (SELECTION)
| Centre National des Arts Plastiques, France | |
| Fonds Municipal d’Art Contemporain (FMAC) de la ville de Paris, France | |
| Collection du Credit Suisse, Switzerland | |
| Collection Louis Vuitton Fondation, France | |
| Collection Mirabaud, Switzerland | |
| Collection Nationale Suisse, Basel, Switzerland | |
| Fonds Municipal d’Art Contemporain (FMAC) de la ville de Genève, Switzerland |
Voir plus
BIBLIOGRAPHY (SELECTION)
| 2024 | Kaïdara, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, illustrated by Omar Ba, Diane de Selliers Publishing |
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| 2022 | Omar Ba, Galerie Templon |
| 2019 | Omar Ba, Same Dream, No. 8, The Power Plant Pages, The Power Plant Contemporary Ar Gallery, under the edirtorship of Gaëtane Verna, Toronto, Canada |
| 2016 | Exhibition catalogue, Mauvaises Graines, Edition Topographie de l'Art, Paris, France |
| 2014 | Omar Ba, La Prophétie des Gens de Durban / The Prophecy of the People of Durban, Hales Gallery, Paris, France |
Press
Connaissance des arts - December, 2024
Sur le chemin de la connaissance
Beaux-Arts Magazine - November, 2024
Les peintures magiques d'Omar Ba inspirées d'un conte peule réunies dans un livre et une expo
Maïka Bauwens
The Art Newspaper - septembre 2022
Toasting Manhattan's newest galleries and more Armory Week festivities
Konbini Arts - juin 2022
Qui est Omar Ba, l'artiste qui fait sensation en "réinventant" la peinture ?
Reportage à Bambilor de Lucie Peytermann
Art Daily - octobre 2019
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts : Omar Ba
Harper's Bazaar Arabia - summer 2019
The Artist : Omar Ba
News
Omar Ba
EN TOUTE MODESTIE, ARCHIPEL DI ROSA – GROUP SHOW
MIAM SETE, SETE, FRANCE From 02/02/2017 to 9/17/2017
The Exhibition En toute modestie – Archipel Di Rosa portrays this artiste from Sete, Hervé Di Rosa, through his influences, preferences and commitments. By bringing together 70 artistes, the exhibition explores the theme from contemporary art to pop arts, referring also to Outsider art, religious art and craft industry. Curator: Julie Crenn With: ACM – Kwame Akoto / Almighty God – Pilar Albarracin – Elodie Antoine – Pierre Ardouvin – Marion Auburtin & Benjamin L. Aman – Omar Ba – Enrico Baj – Rina Banerjee – Raphael Barontini – Zoulikha Bouabdellah – Thérèse Bonnelalbay – Anne Brégeaut – Bernard Buffet – Marcos Carrasquer – Henri Darger – Hélène Delprat – Mathilde Denize – Dewar & Gicquel – Hervé Di Rosa – Jean Dubuffet – Christelle Familiari – Richard Fauguet – Harald Fernagu – Aurélie Ferruel & Florentine Guédon – Charles Fréger – Vidya Gastaldon – Romuald Hazoumé – Hippolyte Hentgen – David Hockney – Benoit Huot – Lydie Jean-Dit-Pannel – Milan Kunc – Yayoi Kusama – Carlos Kusnir – Charles Lapicque – Francisco Larios – Léa Le Bricomte – Mélanie Lecointe – Fernand Léger – Eugène Leroy – Natacha Lesueur – Aurélie William Levaux – Pascal Lièvre – Myriam Mechita – Elena Moaty – Pierre Molinier – Lucien Murat – Hassan Musa – Otobong Nkanga – ORLAN – Régis Perray – Guillaume Pinard – Agathe Pitié – Raphaëlle Ricol – Athi Patra Ruga – Lionel Sabatté – Peter Saul – Judith Scott – Sarah Tschann – Sarah Tritz – Willem Van Genk – Alan Vega – Erwan Venn – Marion Verboom – Adrien Vermont – Jean-Luc Verna – Gretel Weyer – Maria Jeona Zoleta – Unica Zurn.
