{"id":4883,"date":"2025-04-29T19:37:42","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T19:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/alioune-diagnes-jokkoo-brings-senegal-to-new-york-at-templon\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T19:37:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T19:37:48","slug":"alioune-diagnes-jokkoo-brings-senegal-to-new-york-at-templon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/alioune-diagnes-jokkoo-brings-senegal-to-new-york-at-templon\/","title":{"rendered":"Alioune Diagne\u2019s \u201cJokkoo\u201d Brings Senegal to New York at Templon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The artist\u2019s pointillistic technique blurs borders\u2014both literal and symbolic. Photo: CHARLES ROUSSEL<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alioune Diagne<\/a>\u2019s paintings are composed of minuscule pointillistic lines that spread across his large canvases, creating imagery that is simultaneously blurry and distinct. For his debut show in New York and his third with Templon, the Senegal-based artist has delved more deeply into his exploration of cultural heritage, drawing from the parallels between his native country and New York. This interweaving of countries also echoes the sentiment that, as the gallery notes, the \u201cyounger generation of Senegalese, who, when asked about their future, gaze across the Atlantic.\u201d His unique approach to painting creates a world that transcends history and geography, that allows both places to exist in one room. He told Observer, \u201cI genuinely believe in the \u2018African Dream\u2019\u2014that it\u2019s entirely possible to succeed, to accomplish ambitious projects and to create real international synergies from Africa, particularly from countries like Senegal. This belief motivated me to return home, set up my studio in Senegal, and develop my artistic projects directly from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Titled \u201cJokkoo\u201d after the Wolof word for connection, the New York show is a window into the artist\u2019s life and his country, filled with hopes and dreams. In Senegal, fishing is a significant aspect of the culture and day-to-day life. The beaches are crowded with colorful pirogue boats, each hand-painted and decorated with unique symbols and iconography. Fishermen set sail at the crack of dawn, returning with fish to sell at the morning markets. Diagne was the first artist to represent Senegal at the Venice Biennale last year, exhibiting a pirogue boat split in two in a nod to those who also use the fishing boats to migrate to Europe at their peril. His paintings at Templon offer a degree of hope, through imagery of sports and cityscapes, of crowds gathering and communities forming. By merging Senegal and New York, he articulates that neither is inherently better than the other. In fact, Diagne\u2019s translator pointed out that his drawings of American basketball players are much more angular, while the scenes from Senegal are softer.<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO: Two Decades On, UCCA Is Navigating China\u2019s Art Boom Without Losing Its Soul <\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Diagne aims to challenge African youth to reimagine success, proposing an \u2018African Dream\u2019 that mirrors the American Dream, but also sees his purpose as creating a living archive of his country. \u201cAt the same time, I want to raise awareness about critical issues, such as the exploitation of our fishing resources, the tragedies linked to clandestine migration and the heartbreaking shipwrecks involving Senegalese migrants and the alarming pollution affecting our coastline,\u201d he said. \u201cI want the world to become conscious of all these realities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Alioune Diagne, Demb ak Tey \u2013 Past and Present<\/em>, 2025; Acrylic on canvas 350 \u00d7 350 cm \u2014 137 3\/4 \u00d7 137 3\/4 in. Courtesy of the artist and Templon, Paris \u2013 Brussels – New York. Photo: CHARLES ROUSSEL<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his first exhibition in New York, Diagne\u2019s large paintings make their presence felt on the walls of the gallery. The canvases are larger than you can imagine. Only visible up close, the small curvilinear lines that make up his paintings were inspired by his grandfather, who was a calligraphist of Arabic script. He never taught Diagne directly, but he was in awe of this script as a young boy. When his grandfather passed, it was as if it had been transmitted to him, though his lines are neither letters nor copies of his grandfather\u2019s script but a method of transmitting stories.<\/p>\n

Growing up, Diagne was never exposed to contemporary art. \u201cFor a long time, I had no knowledge of art history or the contemporary art world, mainly because in the village where I grew up, we simply didn\u2019t have access to that kind of artistic culture,\u201d he said. It was only later, at the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts in Dakar and during his time living in France, that he really began to discover art history. \u201cToday, I\u2019m particularly drawn to Cubism and especially moved by the work of Pablo Picasso<\/a>. Seeing Picasso\u2019s Les Demoiselles d\u2019Avignon<\/i> in person at MoMA was an incredible visual shock for me. For many years, people spontaneously connected my paintings with Impressionism or even Pointillism\u2014movements I wasn\u2019t even aware of back then. It\u2019s only recently that I genuinely started exploring this movement and its techniques, allowing Impressionism to consciously influence my artistic approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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At Templon, Diagne reimagines the African Dream through layered calligraphic forms. Photo: CHARLES ROUSSEL<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Working on a collaborative project in 2023 with the Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-Arts in Rouen, France, which is known for its impressive collection of Impressionist works, gave him access to new forms of artistic language. In New York, Diagne\u2019s \u201cJokkoo\u201d links continents and traditions, a window into embracing multiple worlds. His paintings speak for themselves. In one, a crowd of Senegalese women are backdropped by skyscrapers that appear to be made of cardboard; the presence of the crowd is more striking than the cluster of buildings behind them. In another work, set this time at what appears to be an American protest, there is someone standing tall with the Senegalese flag in their arms. In yet another painting, the police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest are wearing Senegalese uniforms. All the paintings at Templon evoke this kind of duality\u2014a balance of here and there, Senegal and New York in one shared space. Looking closer, the calligraphy takes shape, blurring the image. Yet in these puzzling scenes that fuse geographies, Diagne\u2019s singular voice resounds. \u201cAbove all, I want to share with the wider public the beauty and richness of Senegal, its values and traditions: the bustling energy of its markets, the resilience and strength of its women, and the hopes and ambitions of its youth, far beyond the stereotypes that are so often portrayed,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>Jokkoo<\/b><\/a>\u201d is on view at Templon through May 1, 2025.<\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Closing<\/p><\/div>\n