Born in 1957 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Lives and works in New York, USA
Solo Exhibitions
2019
Résonances, Fondation Paul Rebeyrolle, Eymoutiers, France Magazzino d’Arte Contemporaneo, Roma, 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, Rome, Italy
2015
Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France
2013
Ouattara Watts: The Project Room, FIAF Gallery, New-York, USA
2012
Vertigo, Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, New York, NY
2011
Hong Kong International Art Fair, Galerie Charest-Weinberg, China
2009
Andy Goldsworthy and Ouattara Watts, Hess Art Collection International Contemporary Art at Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa
2008
Outlaw, Magazzino d’arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
Galeria Leyendeker, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Les Canaries, Spain Hess Art Collection, Paarl, South Africa
2007
Ouattara Watts: For Lily, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, USA
2006
Ouattara Watts: Works on Paper, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, USA
2004
The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Crossing Currents – The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts, The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA
Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
Tracy Williams Gallery, New York, USA
Ouattara Watts : Opere Recenti curated by Okwui Enwezor, Magazzino d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
2002
Leo Koenig, New York, USA
1999
Ouattara: in Roma, Magazzino d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italie
1998
Ouattara New Work, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, USA
1996
Ouattara Dark Star, The Kemper Museum, Kansas City, USA
1995
Ouattara: New Paintings, Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
1994
Ouattara, University Art Museum, Berkeley, USA
1993
Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France
1992
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, USA
1990
Galerie Boulakia, Paris, France Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan Vrej Baghoomian, New York, USA
1989
Marilyn Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
1986
Centre Culturel de la Rochelle, La Rochelle, France
Group Exhibitions
2021
Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, Gwanju Biennale, Gwanju, South Korea 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Christie’s, Paris, France
Surface Tension, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New-York, USA
2020
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Marrakech, Marocco Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Abu Dhabi, EAU
2019
Foire internationale d’art contemporain, Paris, France
L’Esprit du large chapitre II, Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, Ivory Coast 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK
L’Esprit du large, Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Dakar, Senegal
Prête-moi ton rêve, exposition panafricaine itinérante (Casablanca, Marocco)
2018
African Metropolis, an Imaginary City, MaXXI, Roma, Italy L’heure rouge, 13th Dakar Biennal, Dakar, Senegal
2017
Afriques Capitales, Grande Halle de La Villette, Paris, France
2016
Réenchantement, Biennale de Dakar, Senegal
Armory show New York City, Magazzino d’art Moderna, Rome, Italy
2014
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Galerie Sitor Senghor, London, UK
2011
Ouattara Watts and Katy Schimert, Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, New York, USA
2010
In Dialogue : Four Generations of Painting, curated by Peter Makebish, Charest-Weinberg Gallery, Miami, USA
2009
HERD THINNER, curated by David Hunt, Charest-Weinberg Gallery; Miami, USA Armory show New York City, Magazzino d’art Moderna, Rome, Italy
2006
Intersections: Shifting Identity in Contemporary Art, John Michael, Kohler Arts Center, WI, USA Realm of the Spirit, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Body of Evidence, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, USA
2003
Black President - The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, USA
2002
Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany
Whitney Biennial, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994, Moma P.S.1, Long Island City, USA
2001
Gorney Bravin Lee, New York, NY, USA
2000
Transatlantic Dialog - In And Out of Africa, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, USA
1997
Fukui Fine Arts Museum, Fukui, Japan Chiba Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan
1994
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, USA
Un Altre Pais, Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas Fundacion, Spain La Virreina Expositions, La Caixa, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelone, Spain
1993
Biennale de Venise, Italy
1992
Other Drums: Visionary Works, Calvin Morris Gallery, New York, USA Haessle, Ouattara, Ray Smith, Navara Gallery, New York, USA
1991
Syncretism: The Art of the 20th Century, The Alternative Museum, New York, USA
Social Sculpture, Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, USA
The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA
African Explores: New and Renewed Forms in the 20th Century Art, University Art Museum, Berkeley, USA
1990
It Must Give Pleasure Erotic Perceptions, Vrej Baghoomian, Gallery, New-York, USA
Images of Death in Contemporary Art, Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, USA
1988
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, USA
1986
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, USA
1985
Musée National des Arts Africans et Océaniens, Paris, France
Collections (selection)
Fondacao Sindika Dokolo (Luanda, Angola)
Fondation Antoine de Galbert (Paris, France)
Fondation Dapper (Paris, France)
The Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation (New Jersey, USA) The Hess Art Collection (Usa, Argentina, South Africa)
The Hood Museum of Art, Darmouth College (New Hampshire, USA) The Tang Museum (Saratoga Springs, New York, USA)
The UC Berkeley Museum of Art and Film Archive (California, USA) Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (Washington, USA)
Publications (selection)
2019
«Among Others: Blackness at MoMA», MoMA, dir. Darby
2018
«Before Looking at this Work, Listen to It», Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, catalogue
2010
«Hess Art Collection» by Donald Hess and Myrtha Steiner, Hatje Cantz
2007
Mike Weiss Gallery, USA, catalogue
2004
Hood Museum of Art, «Crossing Currents - The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts», catalogue
2003
New Museum, « Black President: Fela Anikulapokuti », catalogue
2002
«Documenta II Platform 5», Hatje Cantz, catalogue