ARTISTS HOUSE

Formerly the Office National des Chargeurs réunis then Primary Inspection, this building was transformed into a workshop in 1993 and now houses some twenty artists. A production and exhibition-sales workshop, but also a welcoming and hospitable place to live, this beautiful building marked by time (the occupants themselves carry out occasional renovation work) is bordered by a small garden of tender grass whose luminous green enhances the brilliance of the colours and motifs decorating its damaged façade, between two portraits of the artists. Inside, hundreds of paintings of all sizes and styles that seem to want to push back the too restricted space conceded by the walls, sculptures, scraps of canvas and wood, stains and splashes of colourful paint, and the poetic inventory of the myriad tools and composite materials used to create the works, including the superb naïve paintings of Afred Sansan Dah, the abundant and granular canvases of Georges Yao and the "figurative abstractions" of Mathurin Koffi Tanoh. One can only be seduced by the endearing charm emanating from this house and the expression of these multiple creativities that the rays of light filtering through the claustras, parent of a poignant aura of nostalgia. The site is worth a visit (ask for Georges Yao, president of the association: he will give you a tour of the owner) and even if you do not go there with a view to buying, do not hesitate to leave a donation in the solidarity fund.