From Ancestral Traces to Contemporary Visions – The Art of Méné

Organized in partnership with the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center , Ivorian artist Ange Martial Méné’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States (September 6–December 7, 2025) is now on view at African Art Beats Gallery. Known simply as Méné, the artist presents a deeply personal and spiritually resonant body of acrylic paintings that bridge prehistoric rock art and a luminous contemporary 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.

You may view/download the catalog here.