Senegalese Artist Spotlight: Ismaila Manga

Ismaila Manga is a Senegalese Artist and in residence at Village des Arts in Dakar.  He grew up in Senegal and attended Ecole Nationale de Beaux Arts in Senegal.  Following his schooling he moved to Montreal, Canada where he also attended Ecole International du Design de Montreal. 


He is interested in exploring how we are all part of the earth and environment; how we are part of the temporal and history and how we are connected.  He begins that exploration with a combination weathering canvas with dirt and metallic, rusted objects.  Sometimes he leaves the canvas exposed to the elements and sometimes he may burying parts of it.  He manipulates the objects placed on the canvases every so often to layer oxidation.
Once he is satisfied with the condition of the canvas, he then draws figures and communities.  The people and trees are shown connected with each other and the greater environment.
All of the works shown were exhibited during the 2014 Dakart Biennale except the last work which was a part of the 2013 DWG Art Show.

Outside of his Village des Arts studio during the 2014 Biennale

exhibited at DWG Art show 2013

A Mini Gallery

Spirit of the Griot

It's been a while since I have posted my ATC's.  Following is a little tour of my recent works.  This is a little painting of a baobab in Pebeo's Moon Effects enamel paint.  The background is color pencil.  The baobab is a remarkable tree in the landscape here in Senegal.  In the countryside it is often the only tree in the dry landscape.  I have titled the card Spirit of the Griot because there was a practice of burying the musician/historians known as griot in the trees.  You can learn more about this practice here. 

This ATC is a small painting with textile paints on watercolor paper is one of the series of ATCs exploring the work of other artists.  This is a copy of Manet's Asparagus painting.  That painting has a cute story.  Manet painted an additional spear of asparagus to send to art collector Charles Ephrussi after he was over paid for a larger asparagus still life. 

Madame du Barry

This one was designed for an artists choice exchange.  I dipped lace in paint and created a print on two cards.  I cut out a heart and added a paper flower and photo of a Madame du Barry ceramic doll.

Little House

This ATC is to be in the shape of a small house.  Little houses and buildings are a recent trend in the world of ATCs.  This cottage is in oil pastels.

After Don Li-Leger

Another ATC in the series inspired by artists, this one after the work of the artist Don Li-Leger. His painting are of flowers in soft jewel tones and earthy colors. Many of his paintings are also sub-dived into squares and rectangles. He aims for an Asian inspired, meditative mood in his paintings. My ATC is painted with acrylics, enamel, pen and oil pastel.



Cool Garden by Don Li-Leger