Modou Dieng Yancine

In contemporary African visual artist Modou Dieng Yacine’s mixed media works, he combines painting and photography to create a dualistic positioning, where both mediums engage and activate one another. This approach provokes what he calls “imaginative lines and multiplicities of layers,” continuously applied to the surface. Dieng Yacine often allows the imagination of the painting itself to dictate the medium used in the work. He frequently incorporates materials such as denim, burlap, cardboard, wood frames, and vinyl records, affirming both his African identity and the contemporary lifestyle he experiences. To build his distinct color palette, Dieng Yacine selects tones and shades from the Sub-Saharan desert dust, which he adjusts and layers with the shifting seasonal coloration of the American North. His geometry and forms are influenced by his love for Bauhaus architecture and design, resulting in a spatial implementation of emotional gestures and intellectual decisions on the surface. This confronts the chaos of urban African architecture with postcolonial discourse, intercultural dialogues, and migrations. Having spent the last 20 years between the United States and his native city of Dakar, Senegal, Dieng Yacine now bases his practice in Chicago, Illinois.