Born in Dakar, Zulu Mbaye is one of the emblematic figures of contemporary visual arts in Senegal. A painter, colorist and thinker of African modernity, he has built over more than four decades a prolific body of work in which color becomes language, symbol and memory.
Internationally recognized, Zulu Mbaye belongs to the generation of Senegalese artists who have succeeded in creating a dialogue between African cultural heritage and contemporary visual languages. Through both his artistic practice and his institutional commitment, he stands as one of the key advocates for the promotion and global recognition of Senegalese visual arts.
Both a creator and a transmitter of knowledge, he works toward an African pictorial renaissance, convinced that art can re-enchant collective memory and bring together the continent’s creative energies.
Zulu Mbaye’s work celebrates the expressive power of color and the symbolic imagination of Africa. His vibrant, luminous canvases unfold like tapestries of signs, where geometric forms and chromatic rhythms intertwine to depict an Africa that is timeless and spiritual.
Each composition explores the relationship between form, color and memory, becoming a sacred space where the artist evokes myths, rhythms and symbols drawn from Negro-African cultures. Through a free and poetic gesture, he reinvents visual languages inherited from traditional arts and anchors them in a distinctly contemporary aesthetic.
His work, both intuitive and conceptual, expresses a constant quest: the search for balance between formal beauty and symbolic depth, between modern visual expression and Africa’s spiritual heritage.
Beyond painting, Zulu Mbaye carries a message of renewal, a call to reclaim African art as a vector of pride, transmission and transformation.