Bisengo is the first solo show of JP Mika in Paris, it will unveil unseen works, created in Kinshasa and Paris where the artist resides at the Cité internationale des Arts.
The painter JP Mika is the most brilliant heir of the peintres populaires of Kinshasa, from which he distinguishes and distances himself, “I am not a peintre populaire, I am JP Mika”. He takes an interest in drawing, makes ornamentations and copies movie posters since his earliest age. He then registers at the Academy of Fine Arts and becomes an assistant in the studio of Chéri Chérin. In 2004, he establishes his own Studio. Outstanding draftsman, he has long borrowed the themes and compositions of his elders and of his mentor. As Chéri Samba before him, Mika often stages himself in his work, painting self portraits or adding his figure in group compositions, always dressed as a "sapeur" (A member of the Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes).
Since a few years, he develops his own style. With his floral print fabrics used as backgrounds, his vibrant color palette, his exquisite sense of detail, his rhythm and figures, this young artist that resembles his work so much “I often tell myself I am a work of art” – creates extravagant paintings, surprising by their inventiveness and their radicality. Unlike his elders, the subject of his paintings is only a pretext for a purely pictorial oeuvre, powerful and unmatched.
“God inspires me and Kinshasa gives me strength, I am a microscopic god, creation is my life”. JP Mika
