Amadou Opa Bathily was born in Bamako, Mali in 1985. He works in painting, sculpture and art installation. He started as a young artist in a workshop of art recovery, where he began working with recycled metal to make sculpture. He then came into contact with various materials and learned processing techniques. Bathily is a graduate of the National Institute of Arts and the Conservatory of Arts and Multimedia. His paintings are identified by hard materials which he sculpts to his canvas. He believes everything can be flexible and enduring at the same time, but like the artist, the material also accepts and refuses certain things.
Kawral was a response to the war that erupted in Mali in 2012. They united 25 professional visual artists from around Mali to work on themes such as reconciliation, peace and social cohesion as a response to the times. With their analysis and creativity the artists brought their contribution to Mali’s recovery, extending the influence of the artistic and cultural life of Mali through the creation of original works of art. Through such initiatives a lot of artists are inspired to pursue their own art focusing on its own themes. One such artist is Opa Bailey.
Bathily’s work is sensitive to the impermanence of the present, of the people who inhabit it, and of their future as well. He focuses on the commonplace and does not make the moment sacred. One of his paintings, Diplomacy at the Corner of the Street, depicts two men conversing and a teenager near them. The teenager remains out of the conversation. This is an ordinary moment of men are talking about everyday events and the boy next to them is going about his everyday business, keeping out of old people’s business.
Image courtesy of Artsy
He is recognised for his amazing talent at assembling works out of recyclable materials, metal, and leather while creating the illusion of lightness and plasticity. His work captures the fragility and temporality of daily life. A lot of his paintings take their cues from the traditional leather attire of Donzo Ton, hunters with unique skills who combine intelligence and wisdom. Their clothing is believed to possess magical properties which protect them from harm, and amplify their vision and hearing.
Bathily has participated in several collective exhibitions and training workshops in Mali and Tunisia, notably at the Interference of Tunisia Art of Light. He is part of the second promotion of the qualitative development programme of the KÔrè cultural centre in Ségou, Mali. He won the contest of the Cité Nationale 2017 dedicated to immigration history in Paris, France.
