Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, who goes by the name Aboudia, was born in 1983 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where the artist still lives and works. If you take a quick look at the pictures, you will immediately notice that Aboudia’s work is influenced by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat.

But another country, another time. His recent grafitti-style paintings are depicting the conflict which broke out in March and April 2011 in Abidjan, in response to the contested 2010 election. His work was showed last year, at the Jack Bell Gallery in London.

Aboudia is one of the many painters of the new African generation of artists emerging for the last decade. We really like what he does and we hope he will be able to keep painting in a peaceful country.

Picture below: Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, Untitled (The God) 2011.
Illustration: Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, photo by REUTERS.