‘Assembling elements represent for me the opportunity to express my vision of today's mankind, through my cultural background.’
Alassane Drabo, born in Burkina Faso in 1968, uses timber (ebony) and stone as basic materials for his sculptures, which he adorns with buttertree nuts, horns, metal, ropes and other components. Between 1984 and 1994 Drabo followed an extensive sculpture training in Ouagadougo. He has participated in numerous exhibitions in among others Benin, Senegal, France and the Netherlands.
At the end of 1999, Alassane Drabo and Saliou Traoré spent two months in Amsterdam on invitation by the Thami Mnyele foundation. During their stay in Amsterdam, Drabo together with Saliou Traore arranged the design and layout of two rooms in Hotel Winston (Amsterdam). Both artists were fascinated by the similarities between artistic traditions of the Netherlands and Burkina Faso, such as the patterns and colours of Amsterdam canal houses that can be seen on certain masks of Burkina Faso. Alassane and Saliou are friends and worked together on a wall project decoration at Ouagadougou airport.