Saadio
Born in Senegal in 1965. Lives and works in Dakar.
“Through my work I try to transmit what my eyes see on the walls and in the cities of Dakar, Bamako, or Barcelona… It is street art in my own way.”
Saadio’s paintings burst with life. They tell the bright and animated stories of an array of individuals pursuing their daily occupations in busy streets, surrounded by honking buses and cars, speeding scooters, and scurrying animals. Subjects out of scale, popping colors, and mysterious signs cover the canvas, leaving it to the viewer’s imagination to fill in the narrative.
Fascinated by the work of the numerous billboard painters who lived in his busy Dakar neighborhood, Saadio was drawn to painting at a young age. As an adult, he trained in the studios of renowned Senegalese artists Kalidou Kassé and Kre Mbaye, and was deeply influenced by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Saadio’s inspiration comes from the graffiti which cover the walls of Dakar as well as from current events.
Saadio’s work has been exhibited internationally and is present in museums as well as numerous public and private collections.
