Artist: Ephrem Kouakou Title: Untitled XIV (White & Two Red Figures)Medium: acrylic & pigment on paper Date: 1999Full size: 44 x 31 1/2 inchesImage size: 40 x 26 3/4 inchesBiography * Ephrem Kouakou an Ivory Coast native, has exhibited his work in the United States, Switzerland, Belgium, and France. His paintings are a blend of African and Western imagery in a rapturous dance of color and line that have as much to do with music as they do plastic arts.  His bold folk art, inspired by his native culture, includes themes of fertility, brotherhood, the strength and the power of women, passion for life, and the understanding of sacrifice, reflection, and the inward journeys. * His work transcends tradition and speaks of universal ideals, blending proud ancestry with modern culture. His canvases borrow from familiar archetypal images but the artist twists them into something contemporary and spiritual and very much his own iconography.