Ouattara Watts

Ouattara Watts and Katy Schimert
On view: October 13 – November 12, 2011
Opening Reception: Thursday, October13, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Bertrand Delacroix Gallery is pleased to present a two-person exhibition of work by Ouattara Watts and Katy Schimert.

Watts’ abstract, collaged paintings integrate everyday recycled materials, his passion for music and exploration of his heritage in the modern world. He draws from external influences using emerging forms and juxtaposes varying patterns, cultural references and numbers in an undefined space. Schimert works in a variety of media, including sculpture, painting, drawing, film and installation. Her works on paper use overlapping, colorful forms creating a cohesive image. These forms project various emotions piecing together Schimert’s explorations of internal conflict. The selection of work emphasizes their harmonious amalgamation of form, color, and contour. Each artist’s exploration of abstract form exposes emotion with familiar objects stressing their dialogue, where Schimert delineates the subject, Watts compounds it with signs and representations.

Ouattara Watts was born in the Ivory Coast. He studied at L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Watts has had solo exhibitions at the Hess Art Collection, Paarl, South Africa; Maggazzino d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Leo Koenig, Inc., New York; Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO; Gagosian Gallery, New York; Galeria Leyendeker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY; Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan; among others. His work has been featured in numerous biennales and museum exhibitions, including Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany; the 2002 Whitney Biennial, New York; the 1993 Venice Biennial; Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo- The Short Century: Independence and Kuti Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994, New Museum, New York; and, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY. Watts currently lives and works in New York.

Katy Schimert was born in Grand Island, New York. Schimert studied at the Philadelphia College of Art and proceeded to pursue her MFA at Yale University. She has had solo exhibitions at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California and The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. Schimert’s work is included in public collections, such as the The Museum of Modern Art, New
York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Norton Family Foundation, Seattle; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Her work was included in the 1997 Whitney Biennial, New York and the 23rd São Paulo Biennale, Brazil. Schimert has taught at Yale University, UCSB, New York University, Harvard University, and RISD. She currently lives and works in New York.