Of all the continents, Africa appears to be the one that evolves and surprises the most. It is no longer a question of disorder and dark visions but rather of pride, diversity, creativity and cultural wealth. Africa is a continent of light. In Africa, contemporary art was born with the independences.
A new consciousness has emerged, new individualities rise in the continent, representing a fight for creative freedom and a research of its personality.
All these artists, free from the western models, are not considered anymore only through the angle of their origin but for the singularity and the strength of their art. They know that culture plays an important role in the development and the future of Africa.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the few African countries (together with South Africa and Nigeria) to be able to claim having “written” its own art history as of the 1920’s.
The Academy of Arts in Kinshasa was established only in 1943. In 1996, the new director Daniel Shongo gives for the first time a lot of freedom to the artists, allowing other forms of artistic expression and creating exchanges with other international academies. The artists are very committed and transform the Academy into a field for experimentation. Houston Maludi, Pathy Tschindele, Kura Shomali and Steve Bandoma are amongst the first “rebels” that benefit from such freedom and dare unprecedented artworks. Yet each of them follows his own research, gathering around “elective affinity”.
Steve Bandoma is part of the group Librisme Synergie that blends performances, photography, painting, collage, reappropriation of images … His work has a political connotation and often witnesses an “ill” society and questionable politics…
Pathy Tschindele and Kura Shomali from the group Eza Possible (everything is possible) reinterpret not without humour political, musical or sports figures … for whom only the uniforms or the medals are an indication of their power.
Houston Maludi continues the “Ecole de la Ligne” of his Kinshasan master Kamba Luesa. From 2008 onwards he starts developing what he calls the “Monochrome Cubisme Symbiotique Quantique” that can be recognized by a congestion of thin black lines immersing us at the heart of Africa and the global megalopolis.
As most of the artistes populaires from Kinshasa that learn with their elders, Monsengo Shula started out by being the assistant of his cousin, the famous Moke, one of the fathers of the peinture populaire. He is one to believe that his narrative paintings must condemn, alert and educate.
Shula distinguishes himself from the other masters of the peinture populaire such as Moke, Chéri Samba and Chérin Chérin with a special mixture of colours that adds an effect of unreal to his paintings. His recent works address global issues such as global warming or international politics.
