Du 28 janvier au 25 février 2023
Rafiy Okefolahan est né le 7 janvier 1979 à Porto Novo (Bénin). Rafiy puise sa force créatrice dans le bouillonnement culturel de l’Afrique. Artiste nomade, son parcours l’a porté du Togo au Nigéria et dans divers pays d’Afrique de l’ouest, avant qu’il ne s’installe 2 ans au Sénégal, à l’école Nationale des Arts de Dakar.
La toile est son écran, sur lequel il projette ce qu’il voit, ce qu’il redoute, ce qu’il veut dénoncer, en particulier en traçant des ponts entre les cultures africaines et européennes. Coloriste hors pair, Rafiy est également un matiériste qui intègre dans ses tableaux des éléments naturels comme la terre, le sable ou le marc de café.
Dans sa nouvelle série Les témoins silencieux, Rafiy individualise davantage chacune des âmes (Femmes, hommes, animaux, divinités) qu’il peint, détachant chacune de la masse que forme le peuple face à l’agitation du monde.
Beninese artist Rafiy Okefolahan was born in 1979 in Porto Novo (Benin). He lives and works between Paris and Porto Novo
A nomadic artist, his journey has taken him from Togo to Nigeria and Senegal, where he spent two years at the National School of Arts in Dakar, before coming to France for a residency in Cité des Arts of Paris, and settling there. In 2019, he founded « La Grand Place » in his birthplace Porto Novo, an Art center where he also welcomes international artists in residency.
Despite the fact he now spends half of his time in France, Rafiy Okefolahan is very much inspired by the richness and syncretism of West African countries, especially voodoo culture that was born in Benin; an outstanding colorist, Rafiy is also used to integrating typical materials used by voodoo preachers in his painting, like sand or coffee grounds, which gives them a unique texture. His painting on canvas and portraits on paper are drawn with a great energy inspired by cultural traditions and mutations as well as social issues.
In his new series « Les témoins silencieux » (Silent witnesses), the artist individualizes more than usual each of the souls he paints (women, men, animals, deities), separate them from the masses facing the agitation of the world.
