BurkinArt is an attempt to help artists and friends from West Africa to access the European market.
Eric Kaboré, Fabrice Kiema and Oumarou Ilboudo are established artists in their country who regularly prove their skills in competitions on national level. In Europe, however, they still need to make a reputation for themselves.
Our offer addresses demanding people who appreciate the value of a hand-crafted original as opposed to decorative items from industrial production. And those who are more interested in the works of art themselves than in the degree of fame of the artist. They both obtain unique pieces of high quality at reasonable prices.
Using our direct contact we are able to arrange for contract works which meet special requests and ideas of our customers.
Our artists receive a fair payment due to the fact that there are no middlemen. Indeed they decide their sales prices themselves.
We are looking for opportunities to present ourselves at exhibitions and events. Furthermore, our artists offer workshops in their respective disciplines, in Ouagadougou as well as abroad.
I first met Eric in 2009 on a visit to the National Arts and Crafts Center (CNAA) in Ouagadougou, when for lack of a better plan to spend my vacation I was following a college friend's invitation to Burkina Faso. I was immediately impressed by the quality of his work, and when traveling to the country once more in 2010, I visited the shop again. There Eric recognized me at once and presented me to his equally gifted artist friends Fabrice and Omar. A few beers later, the question was raised, if I could provide a way to sell arts in Europe. Of course I refused politely, but nevertheless returned to Germany with a great number of photos of their works.
The change came about only in 2012 when a friend offered me a free exposition stand at the Malaika-Festival in Augsburg's Park Theater. – Thanks Njamy, without you this project would not exist. – This was obviously a now-or-never opportunity. So I made a phone call, and four weeks later I received a parcel from "my" artists with bronze figures, paintings and batiks...