IVORY COAST: Seen as one of the country's leading Ivorian contemporary artists, master of naive art Augustin Kassi sublimates plus size ladies in Abidjan

Record ID: 182210

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Seen as one of the country's leading Ivorian contemporary artists, master of naive art Augustin Kassi sublimates plus size ladies in Abidjan
  • Date: 24th May 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PAINTING ON WALL KASSI TALKING TO CHILDREN DURING WORKSHOP
  • Embargoed: 8th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVA3YLZ8VQ9A2SPTPR7896AZHLD9
  • Story Text: An exhibition celebrating Africa's voluptuous women in Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan is causing a stir -- garnering praise and sparking discussion about a sensitive subject matter.
    Ivorian artist, Augustin Kassi, whose work is renowned both at home and in Europe plays on shapes and curves depicting large women.
    Kassi's ongoing exhibition is a mix of oil and water based paintings classified as naive art -- a style characterised by a childlike simplicity in the subjects and the techniques.
    The forty six-year-old painter says he was inspired by a conversation he overheard years ago, when a large woman entered a bus he was travelling in and was told by the conductor that she needed to pay for two seats because of her size.
    Kassi said he wanted to empower large women and show their beauty through his work.
    "When I started (painting) 20 years ago, women were complaining that my paintings were ridiculing big women. But following several discussions that I initiated and through several interviews that I have given, they came to understand that I was leading the fight alongside them," he said.
    Kassi says he was rejected by the School of Fine Art in Abidjan when he started out. At the time, teachers said there was no place for his style of art because it was not abstract.
    Even internationally critics say naive artists appear to have little formal training, which is often untrue.
    Kassi ended up learning from apprenticeship at the side of various renowned artists.
    The price tags on Kassi's pieces range from 850,000 US dollars to 9 million US dollars.
    His art has won followers across ages and body types, but it is the big, more curvacious women that identify with his work the most.
    "We are really at ease today because people want us to be who we are, for us to be open and not feel ashamed because in Africa, being curvy is valued and there is nothing to be ashamed of," said Andree Pulcherie Tanoh, an Abidjan resident.
    Morelle Eboue is a seamstress, who says Kassi's work tears down stereotypes that big is not beautiful.
    "I like my curves, I like myself as I am. You can be curvy and sexy at the same time. Sizes do not just mean 38 or 35, bigger sizes are also curvy. So I like myself in my own skin, curvy and beautiful," he said.
    According to Kassi, his work represents "real African women" a contrast to western inspired images of tall, slender women that dominate fashion magazines and beauty product commercials.
    "I also looked inwardly and found that these are the kinds of women I myself find attractive, because they seem motherly, they are full of joy, and I find them kinder, so I am very interested in them," he said.
    Kassi has now started a school for young painters where he encourages children to explore different styles of painting from an early age.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.
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