S panning nearly six feet in height, Kassou Seydou’s Dibou Kenjou Weup (L’anacardier) from 2018 exemplifies the artist’s distinctly bright, patterned and symbolic mode of figuration. Seydou distills global phenomena related to ecology and multiculturalism into dynamic, allegorical portraits.The present work features a figure seated on a tree stump to the right of the canvas, whose arms rest on their lap. To the left a white dress with Chinese characters floats alongside a pair of purple trousers decorated with anchors. Dispersed throughout the canvas, naturalistic motifs like leaves and elements of African symbolism like masks and figurines imbue the painting with an esoteric quality.

Every element of the painting, though figurative, is highly stylized; the figure has powder blue hair, isolated facial features, and swirling skin. The swirls that compose the subject’s flesh are the same curvilinear forms that fill the bright green background, thereby establishing a thread of continuity between the human and their environment. Such embodies Seydou’s artistic tendency, which is to render life-size, harmonious portals into a world in which humanity and nature are one.