"Boubakary Konseimbo can not remember a time when he didn't make art.  As a child growing up in the sub-saharan West-African country of Burkina Faso- The Land of the Upright Man - he worked with the materials he found at hand; sticks, earth, & clay.  He drew what he saw in front of him, animals, landscapes, and portraits of his school mates.  Konseimbo completed secondary school but never sought formal art training, instead, approaching Foundation Olorun, an art collective hoping to be enfolded in the group which afforded young artists studio space, materials and opportunities to exhibit their work. For two years, he said the directors repeatedly sent him away with advice to come back once he'd defined his work, until one day, they didn't send him away. 

Once accepted by the group Konseimbo took full advantage of the opportunities it offered him developing his own style -a hybrid of representational and abstract- and showing his art in the capitol city of Ouagadougou and throughout the region including the countries of Coted'lvoire, Mali and Niger.  Konseimbo's first showing outside the African continent was in Paris, France.  In 2006 a fellow artist learned through a chance meeting with a tourist from Oregon about the African Art Village at the Tucson International Gem show in Arizona.  Konseimbo applied to the show and a few months later found himself in the United States. Drawin upon his grammar school English lessons and a dictionary he cobbled together paragraphs so he communicate with buyers.  Since then the mixed media artist has shown through out the United States including New York, Dallas, and Las Vegas.  He splits his time between his native country and Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Despite spending his life primarily in desert regions of the world; birds and fish-and their movements through the sea and sky- are reoccurring themes in his work.  He says the creatures speak to him of freedom.  Konseimbo creates his work on canvas using a mix of acrylic paint, oil pastel and the soil gathered from meaningful places."