Gallery Talk: From Ancestral Traces to Contemporary Visions

Curator & the artist, will discuss the exhibition "From Ancestral Traces to Contemporary Visions – The Art of Méné", in a gallery talk scheduled for

Sunday, 2:00- 3:00pm

About the exhibition:

A Project Space exhibition

Ange Martial Méné, artistAnne-Béatrix Keller Semadeni, curator

Organized in partnership with African Art Beats, Washington, DC, this is the first solo museum exhibition of Ivorian artist Ange Martial Méné (b. 1977, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire) in the US. Known simply as Méné, the artist brings a deeply personal and spiritually resonant body of acrylic paintings to Washington, DC—works that bridge prehistoric rock art with a luminous, modern visual language.

Méné’s paintings are improvisational, intuitive, and symbolic. Drawing on natural textures, subconscious imagery, and ancestral memory, his compositions invite viewers into meditative landscapes filled with hybrid figures, celestial echoes, and sacred traces. They are born not of premeditated design but of dream, emotion, and reflection in what the artist calls “a deep work of the spirit.”

At once earthy and ethereal, these works reflect Méné’s reverence for nature, cultural origins, and the unseen energies that bind living beings across time and space. Though rooted in ancient tradition, his art speaks urgently to our present moment, offering a vision of harmony, healing, and inner peace in a time of global disconnection.

Méné’s work is held in prominent collections around the world and has been exhibited in Paris, Dakar, Barcelona, and beyond. His work offers viewers more than an image; it offers an experience.

This event will be held in-person at the museum.

Please direct any questions about this event to the museum's main contact for this event, Patricia Poku-Speight at [email protected].

Image: Méné, La Cité Radieuse, 2025. Acrylic on canvas, 47 x 39 inches.

Host or Publisher American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center