A Different Kind of Blues not only references the ascendancy of blues (as in color) in Sadio’s new body of work but it also speaks to the continuum of ideas through diasporic spaces in liminal and real time. In the Cauchemar (nightmare) paintings, he moves into dream worlds inhabited by mythical creatures in urban as well as natural settings.
Some of the new pieces suggest a child’s naive impression of their surroundings with everyday figures such as a king, a policeman, a soldier, or a musician anchoring the foreground, while the background swirls with the busyness of Dakar streets and mental images of global iconic marketing as well as deeply historical and spiritual symbols. The combination of the settings, the dreamscapes and the symbols all channel the artist’s lived experience as well as his current and future trajectories.
Sadio speaks of and paints his childhood with a mix of reverence for the grit it taught him and a sense of wonder that he actually managed to move on from one of Dakar’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods actually often referred to as ‘Ghetto.’
As always, Sadio’s work forms a continuum from the ancient past all the way through to Dakar’s hypermodernity in a way that bears his unmistakable signature.
Senegal’s well known photographer, Alune Be says it perfectly….. “Il ya cette dichotomie qui s’affronte tout le temps, d’autant plus aujourd’hui, parce que la force de Dakar c’est L’ANCIEN, mais Dakar est en même temps hyper avant-gardiste.” Sadio’s work is yet another visual representation of that very special place Dakar occupies in many peoples’ collective imagination.
This exhibition is supported by Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum and Emory Libraries.