Dakar, Senegal, May 9, 2019
Dieynabou Senin Baldé Leye, known as "Lewrou," is of Peul origin and was born in Dakar in 1976. She graduated from ENA Dakar (National School of Fine Arts) in 2006. From a young age, she chose the artistic path, which could have been musical, but fate had other plans—the art class was closer to home.
Interiority & Spirituality
Dieynabou quickly found her style by exploring the interiority of the human being, aiming to reveal the invisible that resides within those who view her work. Her art unsettles and challenges viewers to confront what they prefer to avoid. Dreams, a privileged space of the unconscious, and what we repress, are her favorite themes. Her work compels us to look and see.
Between Abstraction and Figuration
Kandinsky’s color coding system has been a central inspiration for Dieynabou. Her canvases feature faceless figures set against backgrounds of varying shades of a single color. One could imagine that, in a few years, the figures might disappear entirely, leaving only color. Her entity-like characters are infused with vibrant colors—yellow, green, red. While her use of color evokes Rothko, he was not an influence for her. Dieynabou instead draws inspiration from Monet, particularly regarding light's effect on how the retina perceives color.
Between Light and Darkness
Each canvas is the product of a long maturation process. Dieynabou works on her pieces for days, sometimes years, pausing and resuming, waiting for creative necessity to surface. Her work is the result of an inner struggle between light and darkness. It represents our daily battle to remain hopeful. She has even written in her studio the phrase that gives her the strength to continue creating each day:
"The battle that must be fought to achieve one's goals in peace."
Daphné Aubé