Born 1957, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Lives and works in New York, US
Education
1984
L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
'Ouattara in Paris', Almine Rech, Paris, France
2022
'Ouattara Watts in Dakar', Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Dakar, Sénégal Karma Gallery, New York, US
Karma Gallery, New York, US
2019
'Resonances', Fondation Paul Rebeyrolle, Eymoutiers, France
Magazzino d’Arte Contemporaneo, Rome, Italy
2018
'Before Looking at This Work', Listen to It, Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
'Get Ready', La Rotonde, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
2016
'New Painting', Magazzino, The Armory Show, New York, US
2015
Galerie Boulakia, Paris
2013
'Ouattara Watts: The Project Room', FIAF Gallery, New York, US
2012
'Vertigo', Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, New York, US
2009
'Hess Art Collection: Andy Goldsworthy and Ouattara Watts', International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa
2008
Galeria Leyendecker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Hess Art Collection, Paar, South Africa
'Outlaw', Magazzino, Rome, Italy
2007
'Ouattara Watts: For Lily', Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, US
2006
'Ouattara Watts: Works on Paper', Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, US
2004
The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover
'Crossing Currents-The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts', Magazzino, Rome, Italy
Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
Tracy Williams Gallery, New York, US
'Ouattara Watts: Opere Recenti', curated by Okwui Enwezor, Magazzino, Rome, Italy
2002
Leo Koenig, New York
1999
'Ouattara: in Roma', Magazzino, Rome, Italy
1998
'Ouattara: New Work', Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, US
1996
'Ouattara: Dark Star', The Kemper Museum, Kansas City, US
1995
'Ouattara: New Paintings', Gagosian Gallery, New York, US
1994
'Ouattara', University Art Museum, Berkeley, US
1993
Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France
1992
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, US
1990
Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Vrej Baghoomian, New York, US
1989
Marilyn Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, US
Duo Exhibitions
2024
'Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts: A Distant Conversation', Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH, US
Selected group exhibitions
2024
'Day for Night: New American Realism', Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy
'Cosmos Cinema', The 14th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
'Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts A Distant Conversation', Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH, US
2023
'Refuges', Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Paris
2021
'Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning', Gwanju Biennale, Gwanju, South Korea
'Surface Tension', Museum of Modern Art, New York, US
'The Queen of Spades…and other stories', Bienvenu Steinberg & Partner, New York, US
2019
Foire internationale d’art contemporain, Paris, France
'L’Esprit du large chapitre II', Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
'L’Esprit du large', Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Dakar, Senegal
'Prête-moi ton rêve', Exposition Panafricaine Itinérante, Casablanca, Morocco
2018
'African Metropolis, an Imaginary City', MAXXI, Rome, Italy
'L’heure rouge', 13th Dakar Biennial, Dakar, Senegal
2017
'The White Hunter', curated by Marco Scotini, FM, Milan, Italy
'Afriques Capitales', Grande Halle de La Villette, Paris, France
2016
11th Dakar Biennial, Dakar, Senegal
2011
'Ouattara Watts and Katy Schimert', Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, New York, US
2010
'In Dialogue : Four Generations of Painting', curated by Peter Makebish, Charest-Weinberg Gallery, Miami, US
2009
'HERD THINNER', curated by David Hunt, Charest-Weinberg Gallery, Miami, US
2006
'Intersections: Shifting Identity in Contemporary Art', John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, US
'Realm of the Spirit', Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, US
'Body of Evidence', National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C., US
2003
'Black President – The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti', New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, US
2002
Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany
'Whitney Biennial', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US
'The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994', Contemporary Art Center, New York, US
2001
Gorney Bravin Lee, New York, US
1997
Fukui Fine Arts Museum, Fukui, Japan
Chiba Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan
1994
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, US
'Un Altre Pais', Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas, Spain
La Caixa, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
La Virreina Expositions, Barcelona, Spain
1993
Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1992
'Other Drums: Visionary Works', Calvin Morris Gallery, New York, US
'Haessle, Ouattara, Ray Smith', Navara Gallery, New York, US
1991
'Syncretism: The Art of the 20th Century', Alternative Museum, New York, US
'Social Sculpture', Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, US
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, US
'African Explores: New and Renewed Forms in 20th Century Art', University Art Museum, Berkeley, US
1990
'It Must Give Pleasure: Erotic Perceptions', Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, US
'Images of Death in Contemporary Art', Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, US
1988
'Summer Exhibition', Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, US
1986
Galerie Georges Lavrov, Paris, France
1985
Musée National des Arts Africans et Océaniens, Paris, France
Public Collections
Fondacao Sindika Dokolo, Angola
Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris, France
Fondation Dapper, Paris, France
The Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation, New Jersey, US
The Hess Art Collection, South Africa
The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, US
The Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, New York, US
The UC Berkeley Museum of Art and Film Archive, Berkeley, US
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C., US
