Le Géant et son Tam-Tam

Le Géant et son Tam-Tam

Dated March 26, 1987, this drawing by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré presents a vivid allegorical scene titled Le Géant et son Tam-Tam, in which music, myth, and communal identity converge. At the center, a seated figure beats a drum, anchoring the composition with a rhythmic, almost ceremonial presence, while behind him stands a towering hybrid creature—part human, part bird—whose elongated beak and wings evoke a mythological guardian or spirit. Flanking figures, rendered with Bouabré’s characteristic frontal simplicity, form a compact ensemble that suggests both hierarchy and collective participation. The sun, radiating above, casts the scene in a symbolic light, reinforcing the sense of ritual and timelessness that permeates the work.

As in much of Bouabré’s practice, the image is enclosed within a handwritten textual frame, transforming the drawing into both a visual narrative and a didactic statement. The references to giants, birds, and the tam-tam drum situate the scene within an imagined or remembered cosmology, where oral tradition and symbolic language intertwine. Executed in colored pencil and ink on a reused printed sheet, the work reflects Bouabré’s resourceful use of materials while layering contemporary fragments beneath his own system of knowledge. The stylized figures, stripped of individual detail yet charged with expressive intensity, function as archetypes within a broader effort to catalogue human experience—here, through the lens of sound, power, and the enduring connection between the human and the mythical.

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Le Géant et son Tam-Tam, 1 original drawings, 63 x 32 cm, hand signed by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, 1987

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