Ouattara Watts Paintings at KARMA

James Kalm has been bumping in to the work of Ouattara Watts since some of his first presentations here in New York in the early 1990s. Although a native of the Ivory Coast, Ouattara studied in Paris for a decade, before moving to New York at the invitation of Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1988, and has been painting here for the last twenty-five years. The artist creates large pictures that are a conglomeration of materials, techniques and references, that keep the viewer mystified, and the sensual observer satisfied. The canvases are fabricated from collaged fabrics, photos, patterns, the use of decorative boarders, and geometric figures with mysterious number sequences, to structure areas of distressed colors. As the title of one painting implies “Traveler of the Cosmos” Watts collects timeless ideas from all over the world, and depicts them briskly, as if the paintings are pages from his galactic travel log. This program was recorded May 5, 2022. #jameskalmreport #jameskalmroughcut #lorenmunk

[@LISACURD]

Lovely, I enjoyed the show! Thank you, Kate.

[@cojamescojames4762]

I really like this artist. Not really sure why but I do kind of gentle to me. Thanks. Kate

[@robinjones3136]

WOW!!!! OUATTARA WATTS is EXCELLENT! THANKS, JAMES! THANK YOU KATE!!!!

[@roygreen5522]

superb paintings

[@christianrokicki]

O beautiful paintings. A boon and blessing for humanity!

[@jerilynn5058]

So impressed by the cosmic, stunning art of Ouattara Watts. Bravo! Thank you James! Thank you Kate!

[@m7m7m711]

Thank You James!

[@thirdrockjul2224]

Thank you Kate

[@pepeleyte129]

Really great show, went a couple of weeks ago. Great sculptural feel to them when you see them irl

[@gavinyates9189]

Thank you Kate, thank you everybody.

[@tonsfocus]

Once again, a stellar introduction to an artist that somehow slipped past my radar for all these years. To see a painter manage the gravitational pull of not only JM Basquiat but also J Schnabel is extremely interesting. Both super novas exert such a massive pull, I think probably partly due to the fame and prestige, but also b/c both seem to reveal that there is a bottomless well that can be drawn from so that the art just flows out apparently w/o effort. Seeing Basquiat fill half the space with his crossed out words numbers makes it look so easy, yet he was a genius, and a genius always makes it look easy and as if it should always have been. Maybe in music, Dylan fits that bill too? But, Mr. Watts navigates these influences with aplomb, and does indeed go far into his own unique realm and is anything but derivative. I caught the Terry Winters influence as well, and I'd also add Ross Bleckner, Peter Beard and Jack Whitten into this cosmos. Perhaps a tiny bit of Chris Ofili too. "Korhogo" (16:06) was my personal favorite, so innovative and powerful! Thank you so much James, and thank you Kate!

[@JohnBrown-be6re]

very well said...

[@subudjj9368]

James can you.cover the basquiat exhibit King.Pleasure?

[@singlespies]

I also like the Cosmos painting best. And I like your interpretation of the figure as a knight - didn't see that at first but it makes sense. The feet, though, I first saw as a whale tale - a sperm whale, to be exact. Thanks, as always, for the video!

[@ranajitadhikary4214]

Thank you ❤️ from India

[@kareymaurice3236]

There’s something new about his paintings I don’t know if its the imagery or the cross cultural feeling I get from them?

[@Billart]

We were friends early on & I videoed several of his SoHo openings

[@jazw4649]

The amoeba looks like a reference to Covid 19 cold

[@BorgonovoAngelo]

Buongiorno sig James kalm Volevo sapere se era interessato a fare un video sulla mia pittura. Ringraziandola per l'attenzione Angelo Borgonovo

[@david5704]

Traveler in the cosmos. That looks like a giant condom to me. 😈😂

[@cliffdariff74]

Lots of imagery, passages of color and composition..... but only a one or two are actually interesting as paintings. The numbers, squiggles and semi figures.... just don't get it, seems an intellectualized hodgepodge of non-ideas, sorry but thanks.

[@marcsalz6056]

Even though he did take things from some of the painters you mentioned, I think his work is a lot better in my view than them. More loose inventiveness in images and colours.

[@MT-2020]

Cheap basquiat.

[@gillianbrowning3177]

Thank you Kate