LIFE BEYOND FIRST CLASS
ARTS & COLLECTIBLES
RISING STAR
Artist Moustapha Baidi Oumarou’s Un Monde Bleu unveiled a series of a dozen new paintings at AFIKARIS Gallery, bearing witness to his interpretative use of the color blue to call out a message of peace and harmony.
JENNIFER DURRANS
PHOTGRAPHY BY: AFIKARIS GALLERY
Moustapha Baidi Oumarou Le trône invisible, 180x120cm
Moustapha Baidi Oumarou (b 1997) is a young Cameroonian artist with an impeccable eye for art with an innate focus on humanity. A “conscious and humanist painter,” Moustapha is not only self-taught but has a rigorous passion for his art that developed in early childhood. From a young age, his talent had charmed those around him. Winning accolades for his art in his early years, his sense of style advanced into that of solidarity and the very condition of humankind itself.
His innate nature for observation has offered him a stepping stone into a majestic world of art, exploring the human condition. Contemporary, colorful, and beguiling in its truest form. Moustapha leaves only a little to the interpreter’s imagination, and this is just enough to be both alluring and delightful.
Moustapha’s first solo exhibition in France this fall at AFIKARIS Gallery, Un Monde Bleu, featuring a series of twelve new paintings, was a great merging of civil subjects with calm and armistice. Bright, fluorescent colors garnish the canvas with striking beauty. It is storytelling at its finest, as tableaux of daily situations provide pleasing art. Friendships, relationships, and daily activity is perceived in their rawest form, faceless yet densely meaningful - undefined expression that speaks a thousand words through its visionary paint strokes.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Les moments au quartier, Acrylic and posca on canvas Le trône invisible, 180x120cm
Un Monde Bleu also pays homage to 2020, the twelve months that changed our perceptions. It highlights the sheer endurance of humanity and the redefinition of normal as we come to grasp our normality once again. The togetherness of each canvas provides a semblance of profound hope, a message that encapsulates the tenacity of the human spirit.
Moustapha exhibited the most with the spectrum of true blue colors; rich, versatile, and fluid in its dynamism. He also uses luminous greens colors that capture the eye, spicy reds that offer intrigue, and muted tones that add a rich earthy feel -a way to appropriate the scope of human emotion, from defeat and pain to an abundant family home, overflowing with love.
Pas de titre, 150x100 cm
L’hiver bleu, 180x120 cm
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Loumo Petel, Acrylic, 180x150cm
Again, the anonymity of his paintings captures only the essence of the human condition, without focusing on any one person’s features, expressions. He relies solely on body language to emphasize emotion. Every pose and mannerism highlight progression, movement, and ultimately, a voyage into the future, where possibilities are endless.
Moustapha is moving forward in his success constantly. He has already exhibited his work at many international fairs. His recent first solo exhibition, Un Monde Bleu, was met with considerable accolades and massive success. Moustapha was able to share his journey, and it is, without doubt, his journey will continue far.
Gather objects that speak to you to create your own art
Stones, leaves, scraps of paper, greeting cards, flower petals: when something catches your eye or your heart, gather it into a dedicated place in your home. Maybe you create a special corner where you display them; maybe you keep them in a decorative box or bin. You can also use them to create compositions such as my dream catcher that will help make you whole.
Tell a story for each object
Personally, I am always in the process of storytelling through art. Each object I collect inspires a sentiment; I associate each sentiment with a moment, an experience, an intention or a wish. Think about this as you contemplate each object. Let the stories take on a life of their own beyond the objects. This pageless variation of visual journaling is a powerful way of bringing out sentiments that are just below the surface and can be very therapeutic.
The best part about the journey of artistic “curación:” you don’t need to be an artist or to purchase pricey art. Art, and the tools for creating it, are all around us and accessible to all.