He does this for the young generations to learn from him and rebuke bad characters in the society occasioned by politicians and other evil actions. Samba employs the two recipes to produce shock and say what most people would not want to say or speak of. The perfect recipe for Samba’s paintings is a mix of truth and humor. Through the use of his images, Samba asks viewers about the nature of injustice and inequality as well as celebrating the success of contemporary life in Africa.Ĭontrast and humor are other two important characteristics of Cheri Samba’s artwork that makes him an important current African Artist.
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Samba used this characteristic to create a visual essay about the political and social realities of DRC life that is full of ironic twists. He coined this characteristic to engage viewers in dialogue with the painting directly. The thought skill of bubbles and captions in his paintings was brought about by his background in comic as well as his personal life experience with post-colonial life in Kinshasa. The social issues that developed his theme include sexuality, AIDS, everyday life in Kinshasa, successful figures in Africa, and the stark contrast between poverty and wealth. Samba encountered many social issues in Kinshasa, which made him develop themes of his artwork. For instance, you might see a naked woman portrayed with bright colors, and because nudity is considered a scandal in the DRC, Samba adds a cartoon bubble instructing ‘don’t look.’ In each of his paintings, the image is never enough every artwork is accompanied by a cartoon bubble, Lingala, French, or English to speak more about the images. His paintings are also simple in the way they conveyed messages. This simplicity is one of the characteristics of Samba. To avoid misunderstanding, he cleverly substituted that person with himself using his high-level wit in the artwork. For instance, he had originally painted a man who resembled someone he knew, and the man complained about the picture. The reason behind the love of his paintings is far from the aesthetic. Such unique, recognizable features which made his work important and encouraged viewers to interact and contemplate his paintings. His paintings later became characteristically popular due to their ‘word bubbles’ which made him incorporate written commentary in his work. Samba started his artwork career as a comic strip and billboard painter and gradually graduated to sacking fabric painting for canvas was too expensive.
It was during the famous Pompidou Center Exhibition and other famous events that the world knew the contemporary art which had been developing in Africa for decades. Little was known or studied about the art in Africa, but Samba’s recognition internationally served as the important turning point for African artwork. African art had relentlessly been portrayed as ‘primitive,’ misinterpreted, and viewed as underdeveloped. From these famous events, he rose to international prominence in the 1990s, and today his work is highly bought and shown in most parts of the world. These, among other avenues of Samba’s contemporary art, are the milestone events where the world finally saw his artwork, influenced by the comic strips design and his previous job in painting billboards. Samba participated in the famous Pompidou Center Exhibition ‘Les Magiciens de la Terre’ in 1989, Guggenheim Bilbao in Washington D.C, the 2007 Venice Biennale. ‘Pourquoi ai-je signé un contrat? (Why did I sign a contract?)’ Is the other cool artwork of Samba trying to teach people not to engage in corrupt practices lest they be entangled by the law. Some of Samba’s works include ‘Si Toutes les Etoiles Brillaients (If All Stars Shine),’ which he painted to show the contrast between the wealthy and poor and the satire of social and political realities in Congo. With this style, he addresses the condition of being a Congolese artist. Cheri Samba is known for his signature painting brand in which he mixes text, comic book caricature, and photorealism in one hybrid style. Samba then began making fine art paintings, which he hanged outside his studio in Congo for the local population of Congolese to see. He initially worked as a sign painter in the 1970’s. He was born in 1956 in Congo in the Village of Kinto M’Vuila. Chéri Samba is the leading and the most well-known African Artist of the current period.
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