Amadou "Chalys" Leye, born 1952, Senegal Search this
Medium:
Paint on canvas
Dimensions:
H x W x D: 81.3 × 66 cm (32 × 26 in.)
Type:
Painting
Geography:
Dakar, Senegal
Date:
2003
Description:
Grid-like composition painted on canvas. Approximately fourteen square or rectangular shapes arranged in three vertical rows within a painted dark frame. All blocks range from varying intensities of tan to brown, vary in orientation from vertical to horizontal and range in height and width. The left column consists of four blocks, the top square box of the lightest tan, then a slightly darker vertical rectangle, beneath which are two brown squares both with scratched marks: the top box is bisected by a dotted line with a radiating star at the top and crossed by two curved lines, the top oriented up, the lower one down; the lower box has stripes of solid color intersected by two stripes of vertical scratch marks. The middle column is the widest with a top horizontal rectangle block made up of four irregular bands of color, yellowish cream, mottled brown, off-white cream, and mottled brown. The central block is the largest and features an abstract arrangement that recalls overlapping, dry bamboo leaves. Another horizontal rectangle of cream is positioned beneath this. The right column includes four squares interrupted by three rectangular shapes of cream with horizontal brown stripes. The top square is light cream, but the next down recalls a mystical square found in Sufi communities of Senegal. The third square down is filled with rows of small vertical scratch marks, while the bottom right square again recalls the sacred inscriptions of a Sufi mystical square, or khatem (or xatiim).
Provenance:
No record of donor to Africare
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