Sanou Oumar (b. 1986; Burkina Faso, West Africa) lives in the Bronx and works in Harlem, New York. He graduated from the University of Ouagadougou in 2007 with a degree in English literature. In 2015, Oumar moved to the United States to seek asylum. He is represented by Gordon Robichaux, New York, and Herald St, London.

Oumar has presented solo and two-person exhibitions at Gordon Robichaux, New York (2021, and two-person with Matt Paweski, 2018); Herald Street, London (2021 and 2019); and South Willard, Los Angeles (with Elisabeth Kley, curated by Matt Connors, 2019).

He has been included in numerous group shows: Drawing in the Continuous Present, The Drawing Center, New York; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; Karma, New York; The Body-Split Trick (curated by Melissa Brown), Essex Flowers, New York; Parker Gallery, Los Angeles; Herald St, London; Maroncelli 12, Milan (curated by Matt Paweski and Jacopo Mazzetti); A Page from My Intimate Journal (Part I) —, Gordon Robichaux, New York; Art and Resistance (organized by the Center for Constitutional Rights), Mormor Studio, New York; and A Concentration of Power, Joost van den Bergh, London.

Oumar’s work is held in the collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island; and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota.

His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Artforum, and Frieze. A monograph dedicated to Oumar’s drawings, with an essay by Matt Paweski, was published by Pre-Echo Press in 2018. His work is also featured in Vitamin D3: Today’s Best in Contemporary Drawing (Phaidon, 2021) and Drawing in the Present Tense (The Drawing Center, 2022).