A new book on Iba Ndiaye entitled ""Primitive? Says Who? - Iba Ndiaye, Painter Between Continents"" was brought out in January 2002 by renown french publisher, Adam Biro. This well illustrated monograph -- in French and English -- focuses on Iba's new work, from 2000-2001. The books' authors are Okwui Enwezor, Curator of "The Short Century" and Director of Documenta XI, and Franz-W Kaiser, Director of Exhibitions at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague.

The book's dust jacket sums up the it's orientation:
"Contemporary art is in fashion, particularly if it comes from faraway lands like Africa. But who decides what is art? Who controls the quality of artists? According to which criteria? It is clear that, almost a half-century after decolonization, in order to be recognized, Africans must in one way or another produce art that is "primitive", meaning naïve, picturesque, lacking in technique, colorful, tribal, exotic.
The European inventions of "primitivism" and "the noble savage" are difficult to overcome. Iba Ndiaye sees himself as neither noble nor savage. He sees himself simply as a painter. One can only be a painter through one's relationship with the history of painting -- by borrowing, rejecting and innovating in order to build a personal style. Ndiaye knows this, and he rejects the dubious ideology of the clean slate. Like any true artist, he sees painting for what it is: the means of finding his own personal identity, which lies between Africa, where he was born, and Europe, where he lives."