Catalogue Time is Love - Henri Abraham Univers

HENRI ABRAHAM UNIVERS























































TIME IS LOVE


20/3 - 2/5/21

Barcelona - Spain

HENRI ABRAHAM UNIVERS
Born in 1974 in Paris 8th, France
Lives and works in London, UK






























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BIOGRAPHY

When you have lived a hundred lives, in a hundred places
around the world, is it any wonder that you would choose to
call yourself Henri Abraham Univers?


Henri Abraham’s origins are in France and Burkina Faso. He
studied cinema and practiced many trades in his life among

these countries and other places (notably the Ivory Coast and
London where he currently lives.) Is it surprising then that he
would become a fine artist whose works express something
universal and cosmic?





















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Arriving late to fine arts creation and after exploring other
forms of artistic expression, Henri Abraham Univers realized
that painting was his path. As he was approaching his forties
in 2013, he left all his other activities to devote himself to this
path.


Encouraged by a Polish artist, he presented works for the
highly selective exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts,

in London. To his surprise, after only a year of practice he
found himself there, among nearly twenty thousand other
candidates.

















MISS CAMPBELL | 2018
130cm H x 97cm W | Mixed media on canvas - ENQUIRE

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This event propelled Henri Abraham to the forefront with
exhibitions in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Morocco,
the United States, Belgium, Nigeria and others. His works
were also acquired by collectors!



Although he also devotes himself to sculpture and other forms
of visual art, it is through his painting that Henri Abraham
Univers is known and recognized.





















AFRICA BLUES | 2020

100cm H x 150cm W | Acrylic on canvas - ENQUIRE

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His paintings all bear the same meticulous trademark, whatever
their format and theme; a starry vault which encourages us to
want to always go further, always beyond what is immediately
perceptible, while at the same time fills our minds with as

many questions.


This is the most immediate of his "signatures", a common
thread that unites them together in the labyrinth of his creation,
drawing his inspiration from all the world’s sources.


















BIIGA BLEUE | 2020

120cm H x 100cm W | Acrylic on canvas - ENQUIRE

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Finishing his canvases, once the motif has been executed,
with this seedling of stars which occupy all the vacant space,
is a form of priesthood for the artist.



His mission for the universal and his call for the unity of man and
the world is constantly referenced by inscriptions throughout
his works (“1 + 1 = 1”, “time is love”, “spider weaving thread
of love”, “melanin found everywhere in all universes”, …); the
theme of universalism returns again and again as a leitmotif
which guides the painter in his life and in his work.
















1904 | 2020

100cm H x 120cm W | Acrylic on canvas - ENQUIRE

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The question is even more noticeable in this exhibition for
which he has chosen to present us with a kaleidoscope of his
creations and without a single theme. In fact, between political
satire (Black president); references to the cosmogony of the
Dogon of Mali (The cat, the bird, and the calf); the sacred
hornbill bird of the Senufo (mainly from the Ivory Coast) and

allusions to the Mossi culture of his father, with its improbable
blue Biiga (fertility doll) … the field of possibilities is wide and
the artist explores it without reluctance!


















CALAO (CADMIUM ORANGE HUE) | 2021

100cm H x 80cm W | Acrylic on canvas - SOLD

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His work is unclassifiable as it breaks from the codes of fashion
and current artistic trends. If he evokes Africa, he does not

dedicate himself exclusively to it and the artist clearly shows
his vocation for the universal with his work beyond time and
space.






















DOUX-AMER | 2020

120cm H x 100cm W | Acrylic on canvas - ENQUIRE

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The construction of his paintings is original and variable, even
when the technique remains the same, happily changing the

gesture, the perspective, the chromatic range from one work
to another.


Only its infinite Milky Way points the way of the profane in his
endless search. And there is the artist, in the shadows, and
he is the one who leads him by the hand!




Sylvain Sankale
Art Critic
Dakar, Senegal















LE CHAT ET L'OISEAU | 2021

60cm H x 80cm W | Acrylic on canvas board - ENQUIRE

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SHOWS AND ART FAIRS


2021 | Spring Group Show – OOA Gallery – Barcelona, Spain

1-54 Art Fair Online Edition – Retro Africa – New York, USA

D-Contemporary Group Exhibition – Mayfair – London, UK


2019 | Art X Lagos 2019 – Retro Africa – The Federal Palace –
Lagos, Nigeria
1-54 New York Art Fair – Retro Africa – Industria – New
York, USA
Masters & Contemporaries – Retro Africa – Abuja, Nigeria

















LE VEAU | 2021
60cm H x 80cm W | Acrylic on canvas board - ENQUIRE

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2018 | Art X Lagos 2018 – Retro Africa – Civic Centre – Lagos,
Nigeria

ARTcaf 2018 – Hôte Gallery – Brussels, Belgium


2017 | Africa Savoies – Quaies des Arts - Musée des Beaux Arts –
Chambéry, France
Reminiscences – Sonia Monti Gallery – Paris, France

Contemporary African Spirituality – Calabar Gallery – New
York, USA

















BLACK PRESIDENT | 2018

36cm H x 48cm W | Mixed media on paper - SOLD

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2016 | ART’COP22 – COP22 – Marrakech, Morocco
Art Residency – ARKANE – Casablanca, Morocco

International Contemporary Art Festival “La Selva de l’Art” –
Selva de Mar, Spain


2015 | Biennale Galila 2015 – Fontenay sous Bois, France



2014 | Summer Exhibition 2014 – Royal Academy of Arts – London,
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LA BALLE PERDUE | 2018

50cm x 50cm | Acrylic on canvas - ENQUIRE

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For enquiries please contact
Sorella Acosta
+34 618 356 351 - [email protected]
OOA Gallery - Carrer Nou 1 - 08870 Sitges - Barcelona - Spain
www.outofafricagallery.com

Out of Africa Gallery @OutofAfrica_Art @outofafricagallery