MMFA 2019: OMAR BA

OMAR BA: SAME DREAM

The artist’s first solo exhibition in Canada

May 30 – November 10, 2019

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), in collaboration with the Toronto’s Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, is presenting the first Canadian solo exhibition by Omar Ba. This is the first joint project by those two cultural institutions. It showcases a selection of Ba’s major works from different periods in his career. In addition, the artist has created a large-scale mural for the Montreal public, on a makeshift wall, directly inside the gallery. At the end of the show, this work will have to be dismantled: because of its monumental size it could not be removed through the existing doors.

Omar Ba’s paintings are statement on political, economic, and cultural realities that exist in our world. His work deals with some urgent issues of our time: the global inequality of wealth and power, immigration crises, and our changing relationship to the natural world. He does it through depicting personal narratives alongside collective thus revealing the multidimentional character of his work. He would like the public to realize this about his exhibition: 

“I’d like people to see that we need to give African artists their rightful place, and I also hope they come away with a more positive image of humankind. That we realize that beyond conflict, religion and culture, we are all one. That there are no blacks, yellows or whites – only humans. I also want to convey the idea of an Africa that’s reasserting its place: of countries free of conflict and dictators that people are no longer forced to leave in order to have a good life. In fact, it’s my dream that the continent share its riches with every other country in the world in a mutual respect between African and Western leaders.”

In his work, Omar Ba synthesizes the visual context and texture of his two homes – Dakar, Senegal and Geneva, Switzerland. He combines historical and contemporary African and European motives, imagery, and many different textural element. He also uses his bare hands along with a range of techniques and tools to create his art. Most of the works are painted on corrugated cardboard. He prepares his surfaces – be they cardboard, canvas, or wood – with a black ground, upon which he layers vivid colours and complex compositions full of details. His figures merge with lush flora, fauna and biomorphic forms inspired by the Senegal coast where he grew up. Micro-worlds exist in his paintings within larger environments that evoke a shared habitat between humans, plants and animals.

About the Artist

Omar Ba (born 1977, Dakar, Senegal) lives and works between Dakar and Geneva. His work has been shown at BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium (2017); Ferme-Asile, Sion, Switzerland (2015); Hales Gallery, London, UK (2017, 2014); Biennale de Dakar, Senegal (2014); Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland (2012) among others. Ba’s works can be found in private and public collections, including Credit Suisse, Switzerland; Fonds municipal d’art contemporain de la Ville de Genève, Switzerland; Fonds municipal d’art contemporain de la Ville de Paris; Centre national des arts plastiques, France; and the Barbier-Mueller Collection, Geneva, as well as the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In 2011, Ba received the Swiss Art Award.

Catalogue

Published in English and French by the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, under the editorship of Gaëtane Verna, the 150-page catalogue is a complement to the exhibition. On sale at the Museum Boutique and Bookstore.

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Exhibition Location

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Contemporary Art Square, Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion – Level S2

For more information about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions and activities, visit the museum's website.