Lot 91: Viyé Diba (Senegalese, born 1952) Enchappement II 67 1/4 x 56in (170.8 x 142.2cm)

Enchappement II
inscribed and numbered 'Enchappement II / 364' (on the stretcher bar)
oil and mixed media on cloth in artist's frame with painted wood appendage
67 1/4 x 56in (170.8 x 142.2cm)

EXHIBITED:
Los Angeles, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, A Saint in the City, February-July 2003

Viye Diba's work is articulated around the valorization of local materials and their manipulation, wherein the act of manufacturing becomes more important than painting in the traditional sense of the term. He takes locally woven strips of cloth ordinarily used for shrouds, and sews them together as his canvases. He mixes paints with sand and other local substances to add color and texture. He begins with or adds recycled materials to works that fuse painting with sculpture. As he explains, he wishes to "aggress" the media he uses, to stretch and stress them to see what they can endure, and what their endurance can then convey.

Diba is currently a professor at the National School of Fine Arts in Dakar.