MOUSS
The artist in Mouss first stirred within when as a young boy he watched his grandfather carefully hanging out st rips of beautifully hand-woven, naturally dyed cotton - later used for traditional clothing and medicine...
MOUSS (Moustapha Maïga) was born in 1975 into a lineage of traditional textile dyers in Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso. His innate sense and understanding of colour, matter, and the ‘alchemy' of the creative process, is deeply rooted in this ancestral craft.
Instinctively creative, Mouss's life as an artist began when he was a small boy and he started to explore drawing as a way to express his observations and experiences of his surroundings. He is entirely self-taught.
At school he was appointed as ‘class illustrator' and his chalk-board drawings were used in class by the teachers who were constantly struggling with the shortage of text books. Fellow pupils then called on Mouss's skills for help with their homework drawings, and began to regularly order his hand-drawn gift cards to give to their ‘sweethearts' and their families. And so began Mouss's career as an artist...
As a teenager he worked for several years at his brother's business producing screen-printed, wax resist dye-work and hand-painted postcards, posters, T- shirts, signs, billboards and advertising materials for local businesses and events.. He then chose to go solo to focus on his own work and set up his own shop. Mouss's talent was swiftly spotted and his rapidly growing clientele led to exhibitions at the French Cultural Center in Bobo Dioulasso and to numerous private commissions.
Later Mouss moved to France where he exhibited at the annual Festival de Berlioz in the Côte St André, as well as at various art fairs and galleries in Paris, Lyon, Languedoc-Roussillon, Belgium and Switzerland. To share his ‘savoir faire' he also taught dye-work workshops in several schools in Paris, Lyon, and in Languedoc-Roussillon.
Mouss has been awarded prizes for his work by the Société des Amis des Arts de Grenoble, France 2006; Société Lyonnaise des Beaux Arts, France, 2003; Académie Européenne des Arts, Gembloux, Belgium 2003, to name just a few. More recently, one of his works was shortlisted by The Royal Academy of Arts, London for The Summer Exhibition 2019.
Mouss has an international clientele, many of whom have been following and collecting his work over the years, including several galleries.
Click on 'GALERIES' to see a selection of Mouss's work.
For further info contact : mouss.arte@gmail.com