Abraham Abga

Born in 1977, Abraham Abga lives and works in Ouagadougou.

Abraham Abga is a self-taught visual artist and director of animated films. He lives and works in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. In the field of visual arts, his form of expression is painting, which he has been practicing for 16 years. During his career, he has participated in several exhibitions and workshops, both in his native Burkina Faso and in other African countries such as Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Morocco, as well as in Europe such as France, Germany and Austria.

The artist began drawing at a young age and experimented with painting and sculpture. In 1999, he gave up his university studies to devote himself to painting, the passion of his life, by joining the Fara studio, where five young painters were already working, as an assistant to the Burkinabe painter Sama. Our young friend quickly forged his own weapons by finding his own painterly style, which he uses skilfully.

Abraham Abga says that his painting is above all an expression of his personality, which refers to his vital need to create and create himself in order to give meaning and purpose to his existence, because creation, whatever it may be, allows giving meaning to man's life and it is the place where the deepest thoughts, knots, blockages, desires, resentments, joys and pains take shape, with the sole purpose of communicating with others. "I am because others are.

Thus, the painterly style of the artist Abraham Abga finds its essence in existentialism and evokes the life and development of man in a society marked by numerous socio-political, economic and cultural changes. Therefore, his works pose the recurring existential questions that every person asks: Who are we? Where do we come from, what are we looking for, where are we going? He describes himself as a socially committed artist: "To live without painting is to refuse to exist."

The artist's work highlights his very good mastery of drawing, which consists of several painting techniques that combine a genre of lettering in a graphism that is his own. It is without doubt that in 2007 he was awarded the Grand Prize for Painting in Koudougou, in 2011 the first prize in the Peace Cloak Painting Competition in Ouagadougou, and in 2016 the first prize for the integration of prizes. Guyzagn was awarded the Guy Nairay Grand Prize for Painting in Abidjan and the fourth prize at the RIPO (International Meeting of Painting in Ouagadougou).

The artist's works show that he has mastered both drawing and various painting techniques, which he combines with a kind of lettrism in a graphic style that is his own. This is probably why he was winner of the Grand Prize for Painting in Koudougou in 2007, first prize in the Peace Bell painting competition in Ouagadougou in 2011, recently first prize in the integration of the Guyzagn Prizes with the Grand Prize Guy Nairay in Painting in Abidjan in 2016 and fourth prize at the RIPO (International Meeting of Painting in Ouagadougou).

He is also active in several associations promoting visual arts in Burkina Faso and has already participated in the production of several animated films.