DakartNews had the pleasure of interviewing Omar Lionel Sow, who signs his paintings as Olio, for our “What is Art?” new series, which gives artists a platform to reflect on their artistic practices. Omar is a 55-year-old Senegalese visual artist who welcomed us to his studio in Dakar with the smooth sounds of jazz in the background.
What is art to you?
Art is vast. The answer can’t be that simple. Personally, for me, art is a behavior. If you understand an artist’s behavior, you can better understand and define their craft. It’s a matter of behavior and personality. This behavior is characterized by generosity. The artist is someone very calm and because, as it’s often said, the artist is above society, but I don’t quite believe that. No one can be above society. We’re all the same. What characterizes an artist is their behavior and vision of society.
You talk about the artist, but what is art itself?
I can’t tell you that. It’s something I feel, something I do. It’s my work. It’s about creating beauty from nothing at all. It’s a mentality, a state of mind to create beauty. One can be an artist by being a footballer because they create beauty; a good orator can be an artist because they master the language well. A surgeon can also be an artist, what we call an artist of the scalpel.
You say what characterizes art is creating beauty. How would you define beauty?
What is beauty? Beauty is a matter of sensitivity. What is beautiful to me may not be to you. Tastes and colors are not to be discussed, as they say. Speaking of art, it’s the cohesion between form and color, this perfect harmony between movement, gesture, and the connection with the material that makes one produce beauty, not perfection.
Is beauty what you seek in your creative process?
I don’t wake up in the morning thinking I’m going to create something beautiful. There are some of my paintings that I don’t like. For me, they are not beautiful. But someone else might find them beautiful. Personally, I don’t seek beauty or perfection. I just do my work. Whatever comes out, it comes from me. It’s my story, and not all stories are beautiful to tell.
What role does the message play in your work?
I define myself as an intuitive painter. I don’t need to have a message to paint. When I have a canvas, paint, and all the necessary materials, I work. I don’t have a precise idea of what I’m going to do. As I work, something develops that I then explore. I don’t sketch. I paint by feeling and unconsciously based on my immediate environment or my travels. My art is influenced by all the contacts I’ve had, the good people I’ve met, those who were less good, the beautiful and bad situations. I take a bit of everything to form something on my canvases to free myself and release what’s in my head. Others will decide if it’s good or not.
Bridging Africa and The World Through Contemporary Art 
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