Two Masked People, ca. 2000

Acrylic on Canvas
49 1/2 × 39 1/2 × 3 in | 125.7 × 100.3 × 7.6 cm
This is a unique work
This work includes a Certificate of Authenticity

Ephrem Kouakou was born in Toumodi in 1962 and graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris in 1984. He currently lives in Maryland, in the US. The evocative image of this work – placed against a classic African backdrop – plays with the apparent clash between the sphinx, an ancestral and traditionally negative figure, and the rite of fertility, the highest expression of positivity. This odd combination creates a creature which is a sort of cosmic synthesis. This is clearly shown in the face: the strength and the key of this artist’s work. His paintings were exhibited at the Parish Gallery in Washington DC in 2005 and, in 2008, at the Antreasian gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, US. In 2012 he exhibited at the Myrtis Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, and in 2013 at the Life Fine Art Gallery in Ellicot City, Maryland.