ASSOUKROU AKÉ

Biography

Assoukrou René Poupoint was born in 1995 in Bonoua, Côte d'Ivoire. After studying art in Abidjan, he went on to study art history and archaeology in France, before switching to art school in Tours, where he graduated in 2021 with honors. Assuming the role of a medical researcher, Assoukrou Aké elaborates what he calls "healing" narratives through his multidisciplinary artistic practice, from collage to painting, engraving and sculpture. His research feeds an art of translation in which he attempts to transcend an equivocal visual aspect of violence and its capacity for mutation. To deal with this unspeakable, almost unrepresentable concept in its own right, he constructs and deconstructs fragments of images by working with the material, which he hollows out, cuts up or tears up to empty it of meaning. His sinuous compositions echo a wide range of references, from African tales to engravings by masters such as Poussin and Rubens, and Dante's Divine Comedy illustrated by Gustave Doré. Imbued with symbolism and spirituality, his work invites us to question the meaning of existence through these dark, heavy atmospheres, from which emerge a touch of serenity and hope.