From Ancestral Traces to Contemporary Visions – The Art of Méné

Currently at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center

Organized in partnership with the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, this is the first solo museum exhibition of Ivorian artist Ange Martial Méné in the US. Known simply as Méné, the artist brings a deeply personal and spiritually resonant body of acrylic paintings to Washington, DC—works that bridge prehistoric rock art with a luminous, modern 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.

The artworks may be viewed at the museum until December 7, 2025.