“Gan nda Donie Koy II” – A Solo Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings, Video Art Pieces and Fulani Art Forms, by Gretchen Beck

Artist Statement

For the past thirty years, Gretchen Beck has been rendering imagery that reflects the vibrancy of Nigerien culture. She lived in Niger, West Africa for three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer and has conducted research there for her art where she has studied the sense of abstraction that exists within Djarma and Fulani art forms.

In this series of contemporary paintings, the sense of color, line, tone and value that fill them mirror the rhythms, texture and movement of daily life in Southwestern Niger where she lived with the Nigerien people. There is a sense of dance and song in the paintings as whimsical lines glide across grid like swatches of bold colors. The title of the exhibition Gan nda Donie Koy translates in the Djarma language as the “leader of dance and song”. 

This title is also reflected in the video art pieces in the exhibition that depict the influence of the paintings. In the videos, Fulani women decorate their home steads in rhythmic ways with their adored art forms that bring them great bliss and delight. In the exhibition as well, Fulani identity disks that abstract the way the Fulani people live together as well as the sense of reality are integrated with the paintings.

The exhibition as a whole pays tribute to the exuberant and yet hard-working life Fulani women live on a daily basis. Proceeds from this exhibition will directly benefit the lives of the Fulani people in this part of Niger, West Africa.

Gretchen Beck served as Chair of the Art Department, Professor of Art, Curator and on the faculty at Concordia University, Irvine, CA, for eleven years. Currently, she is a professional artist.

She exhibits and discusses her work in juried group and solo exhibitions in galleries, on national and international levels. She also is a represented artist at the NoonPowell Fine Art Gallery www.noonpowellfineart.com in London, England and Sector Seven Contemporary Art Gallery in South Pasadena, CA. For further information about her work in the visual arts, please contact her at [email protected] and you can view her art at www.gretchenbeck.com