closed from 22/12 - 6/1/25
The Pulse of Metal: Art, Design, and Transformation
Metal is both matter and metaphor, embodying strength, transformation, memory, and resilience. It holds the marks of time and the glow of fire that shapes it.
METAL. Art & Design, presented by OOA Gallery, unites five internationally recognized artists: Boukaré Bonkoungou, DOFF, Andrés Montalván, Hamed Ouattara, and Rémy Samuz — whose practices redefine this elemental material through contemporary art and design.
From sculpture to furniture, from assemblage to design objects, the exhibition unfolds as a dialogue between symbolism and function, between gesture and geometry. Here, metal transcends its industrial origins to become a vessel for emotion, memory, and renewal.
“METAL” positions the material as a living language—one that speaks of endurance and imagination, of resistance and creative rebirth.
Boukaré Bonkoungou — From Fire to Humanity
Born 1978, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – Lives and works in Ouagadougou
Boukaré Bonkoungou continues the ancestral West African tradition of bronze casting, transforming it into a contemporary sculptural practice. Combining bronze, iron, wood, and Bogolan textiles, his creations explore the intimate relationship between body and material.
In METAL, Bonkoungou presents works that merge rough bronze with the softness of textile, transforming rigidity into warmth. His sculptures reveal the humanity within metal, infusing strength with tenderness, and permanence with vulnerability.
DOFF — Architecture of Resilience
Born 1984, Massyéna, Chad – Lives and works in N'Djamena
For DOFF, metal is memory—a witness to collective history. Known for his innovative use of reclaimed industrial materials, he transforms salvaged aluminum insulation sheets (paxalu) into textured surfaces that blur the boundary between painting and sculpture.
In this exhibition, his works reflect on the architectural nature of recycled materials, transforming protective surfaces into shimmering landscapes of vulnerability and strength.
DOFF bridges eco-design and fine art, proving that reuse is not just sustainable—it is an act of cultural resilience. His art reconstructs from the remnants of industry, turning destruction into design and memory into form.
Andrés Montalván — Horizon of Time
Born 1966, Havana, Cuba – Lives and works in Paris
Trained at Havana’s National School of Art and the San Alejandro Academy, sculptor and designer Andrés Montalván explores the intersections of time, matter, and transformation.
His pieces in METAL, including the celebrated Horizon and new mixed-media works using oxidized metal and pigment, invite contemplation on the passage of time. Through corrosion, patina, and texture, each surface becomes a landscape of memory and meditation.
Montalván’s approach merges design precision with sculptural poetry. Each trace of oxidation carries meaning—a reflection on silence, endurance, and the beauty of decay.
Hamed Ouattara — Design as Resistance
Born 1971, Burkina Faso – Lives and works in Ouagadougou
Artist, designer, and activist Hamed Ouattara stands at the forefront of sustainable African design. From his renowned Studio Hamed Ouattara (SHO), he transforms recycled oil drums, barrels, and metal sheets into chairs, stools, and everyday objects that unite functionality and ethics.
The pieces presented in METAL embody Ouattara’s vision of eco-responsible creativity, objects that retain the memory of their industrial past while symbolizing renewal and purpose. Each weld and curve becomes a declaration of autonomy and resistance, redefining African modernity through design.
Rémy Samuz — The Lightness of Iron
Born 1982, Cotonou, Benin – Lives and works in Cotonou
Rémy Samuz sculpts iron wire into expressive, seemingly weightless forms. His works combine structure and transparency, capturing fleeting human expressions in a web of interlaced metal.
For METAL, Samuz presents sculptural portraits that challenge the heaviness of the medium, revealing a balance between strength and grace, between geometry and emotion. His practice merges the rigor of design with the sensitivity of portraiture, turning metal into a meditation on movement and form.
A Reflection on Matter, Form, and Meaning
METAL. Art & Design goes beyond material exploration; it is a manifesto about the shared ground between art and design as forces of transformation.
In an age dominated by speed and mass production, these five artists reclaim the value of craftsmanship, permanence, and conscious creation. They remind us that design can be poetic, that art can be functional, and that beauty can emerge from resistance.
This exhibition contributes to the global discourse on contemporary art, sustainable design, and material culture, reaffirming the importance of process, ethics, and innovation. It proposes a vision rooted in care, creativity, and sustainability—where residue becomes resource, and creation becomes reflection.
Presented by OOA Gallery, METAL. Art & Design stands as a manifesto for contemporary creation—a dialogue between sculpture and design, destruction and reconstruction, humanity and material.
Ultimately, METAL celebrates the enduring creative spirit: that slow, deliberate act of transformation through which matter endures and imagination continues to ignite.
