DJIBRIL NDOYE

Growing up farming, fishing, raising cattle-in such a nurturing, cyclical environment-was the school of life for me.

I never had training in art growing up. It was difficult to get art supplies. So I satisfied my artistic desires drawing sketches & giving them to friends. I was unacquainted with art as an academic term. Over time, with patience, perseverance, doing what I loved to do, I felt encouraged & adopted a philosophy that has made me very independent in the styles in which I express myself.

In my art, it is me first & the medium after. Freedom is the foundation of the manner in which I express myself. I like to create but I want to see my personality & life experience in what I create. Ballpoint pen is my simple yet unforgiving.

Djibril NDoye is an internationally recognized artist with artwork in galleries, universities, homes & businesses in West Africa, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Western Europe, Japan & Korea.

He has received many awards in recognition of his talent as a self-taught artist: 1st Prize (Drawing), Affaire in the Gardens Art Show, Beverly Hills CA 2008; 2nd Prize, Sausalito Art Festival 2007; Best of Category, La Quinta Arts Festival 2005; Best of Show, Pan African Arts Festival Los Angeles 2004; Universal Living Treasure from the Association for Cultural & Artistic Promotion (PCA) in Bargny, Senegal, 2002.

He considers his work to be universal art. Previously working with standard materials like oil paint/watercolor, he developed his own distinct technique using only ballpoint pen during a half dozen years of research & experimentation. After taking the ballpoint pen drawings to a very high level of professionalism, he began using charcoal pencil on larger surfaces to further develop his intensely emotional detailed drawing style. Recent creations are drawn directly on wood with a woodburner.

Born in 1953 in Bargny, Senegal, self-taught, & a member of the National Association of Artists/Graphists of Senegal, his public life began when he won 1st Prize in 1981 at the Popular Educational Center in Rufisque, Senegal.

And since then he has participated in many juried festivals, exhibits & galleries in the USA, and speaks about his life & art to students from grammar school to college.