Jean Baptiste Djeka: Channeling His Baoulé Ancestors

CRITIC’S PICK: Jean Baptiste Djeka, a young visual artist from Côte d’Ivoire, or Ivory Coast, is known to paint, sculpt, practice photography, and create art installations. According to Djeka’s bio, his work “reflects the culture and the environment he grew up in, as well as his insatiable quest of the unknown and his vivid imagination.” The increased interest in contemporary art from the African continent is now far from esoteric, says Jumbe Sebunya, co-owner of this urban African art and design gallery in Atlanta. “We are so happy to share an artist who is ‘re-appropriating’ his own culture for a wide audience. He scaffolds his repertoire by both dreaming of the past and thereby fueling the future.” — Kevin C. Madigan