Oumar Ball

Presentation

Mauritanian artist Oumar Ball was born in 1985 in Bababé, in the Fouta Tooro river region. Initially raised by his grandmother, he moved to Nouakchott with his family at the age of 12. He grew up with a father who was a painter and photographer, and soon followed in his footsteps. From the age of 9, he began to experiment with sculpture, before embarking on a more serious pictorial path when he was 15. His research oscillated between figuration and abstraction. In the vast territory of the village I lived in, I would find pieces of metal in abstract shapes, flattened wire like writing, colored cardboard or plastic, and make toys. Whatever materials he uses, he rediscovers the pleasure of drawing with wire, coloring with metal, watercoloring with clay. Looking at his work, the artist takes the measure of the roots that continue to inspire his work to this day. Wire remains the backbone of Oumar Ball's plastic identity. With this tool, he assembles corrugated iron and recycled metal in his sculptures as well as his paintings.