Armand Boua is noted for his textured and layered compositions, using tar and acrylic on found cardboard boxes. Each layer is applied and then scrubbed and stripped back, leaving abstract forms that come in and out of focus. Boua’s portraits take the street children of his hometown Abidjan as his subjects. By recycling the cardboard boxes used as makeshift shelters by street dwellers, Boua’s use of found materials demonstrates a strong engagement with his local environment. Both mute and subtle, his works maintain a careful balance between heavy gestures and violent execution, and the gentle treatment of his subject matter.
Several private and public collections have holdings on his work, including the Saatchi Gallery, London; the Franks-Suss Collection, Hong Kong and Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota. His work was included in Pangaea II: New Art From Africa and Latin America, Saatchi Gallery, London (2015).