OBOU GBAIS

Obou Gbais (b. 1992, Guiglo, Côte d’Ivoire) is a contemporary Ivorian artist who lives and works between Abidjan and Berlin. A graduate of the École nationale des Beaux-Arts in Abidjan, he has developed a visual practice rooted in questions of identity, memory, and the transformation of cultural symbols.

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At the core of his work is the Dan mask, an emblematic figure he reinterprets through a distinctly contemporary visual language. Moving away from an ethnographic approach, Obou engages in a process of reappropriation, transforming the mask into a living motif that dialogues with the social, political, and human realities of his time.

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His work explores themes related to the human condition, collective dynamics, and the transformations of post-conflict societies, particularly in relation to Côte d’Ivoire’s recent history. The human figure—often multiplied or hybridized with the mask—becomes a space where tension, irony, and poetry coexist.

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Through repetition, variation, and experimentation with different media—from painting to screen printing—Obou Gbais investigates the image as a site of memory and reinvention. His work moves between narration and abstraction, between heritage and contemporaneity.

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Since 2020, he has developed an international presence through exhibitions across Africa and Europe, and has participated in institutional and curatorial projects exploring archives, transmission, and forms of representation. In 2025, he notably presented Murmures d’Archives (MuCAT Abidjan & Museum Rietberg), Transmission (Filafriques, Geneva), 33 Portraitures Dan (Hoop Galerie, Dakar), and The Power of Love (Filafriques, Geneva).