Biography

Having grown up in Abidjan, Henri Abraham Univers was always surrounded by a multicultural environment that subsequently directly influenced his paintings. Although Africa is the main source of inspiration for his works, he finds his originality in everything and anyone, in different regions across the world. Henri Abraham Univers is an artist whose miscegenation is as much cultural as graphic. “I do not paint to decorate. I’m still trying to get a message across. I express a reality, and this is where I have more affinity with the warm and vibrant side of Africa.” Having graduated from Le Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français (CLCF École de Cinéma) in Paris, he was ultimately taken over by his love for painting–a medium through which he quickly realized was easier for him to use to express himself. After a stint in New York, then Ouagadougou and Paris, he moved to London in 2010. He devoted himself to his passion full-time from 2012. In 2014, he was selected to exhibit at the prestigious Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. In 2015, he returned to France and moved to Bordeaux where he set up his studio. In 2019 he returned to London, where he currently resides and works.