Joseph Kinkonda called, Chéri Chérin

Born 1955, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Lives and works in Kinshasa.

In the heart of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), five times larger than France, possesses incomparable natural human and cultural riches. More than 400 ethnic groups speaking as many languages have flooded into Kinshasa in one exodus after another. A megalopolis with more than 10 million inhabitants, Kinshasa exemplifies the famous article 15 of the Constitution which encourages people to take themselves in hand. Often this is done with talent, or even with genius. And this popular genius is what makes “Kin-the Beautiful” a stunning city, by day and by night.

Since the early 1970s, the city has witnessed a creative explosion in every artistic realm.

The group “Viva la Musica”, led by the superstar Papa Wemba, has enjoyed a huge popular success. It was a member of this group, Kester Emeneya, who invented the concept of the SAPE, the “Society of Atmosphere-Creators and Elegant Personalities”. In this Kinshasa institution, Chéri Chérin is one of the most prestigious figures.

Within this effervescent context, the 1978 exhibition Art Everywhere, brought attention to a whole group of young “people’s” artists, co-called because their representational, narrative painting is rooted in an addressed to the people at large. Samba, Moké, Bodo, and Chéri Chérin, the chief innovators of the group, have achieved success and have been embraced by all Kinshasa.

The artists in the “gang” – it is neither a school nor a movement – work in their separate studios on subjects inspired by social and political developments. They are differentiated as much by choice of subjects by style by the way they treat pictorial space, and by their use of colour. Chéri Chérin whose name is an acronym for “Créateur Hors (série) Expressionniste Remarquable INéganable unique en son genre” (« unclassifiable remarkable Expressionist creator unequalled and unique in this field »), gives equal prominence to subject, form, representation, intelligibility, and decorative qualities. In this way he draws the spectator into his own interrogations, imprecisions, uncertainties, and unfinished works. He denounces a world in which opportunism and comedy threaten to win out over the true values for which Chéri Chérin means to fight.

“And if you, in the West, say that painting is finished, I will not give in to the facility of video as it is seen everywhere today, even in the Dakar biennale. I will keep on painting and you will see what you will see.”

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2004

Mémoires de Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi National Museum
Kinshasa - Democratic Republic of Congo

Gallery Art Körner
The Hague - Netherlands

2003

Dommenhoff
Neerpelt - Belgium

Kin Moto Na Bruxelles, Hotel de Ville
Brussel - Belgium

2002

Marc Dengis Gallery
Brussel - Belgium

1993

Wallonie Bruxelles Center of Kinshasa
Kinshasa - Democratic Republic of Congo

1991

French Cultural Center of Kinshasa
Kinshasa - Democratic Republic of Congo

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011

July 8 - Aug 20
JAPANCONGO, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia

Feb 6 - Apr 24 2011
JapanCongo
Magasin Grenoble, France

2010

Oct 8 - Oct 25 2010
African Stories
Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech

2007 / 2008

Popular Painting" from Kinshasa
Tate Modern, (Room 10)
London - U.K.

Why Africa?
Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli
Turin - Italy

2006 / 2007

100% Africa
Guggenheim Museum
Bilbao - Spain

2005

15 ans de transition, Memling Hotel
Kinshasa - Democratic Republic of Congo

Peinture populaire congolaise, Museum of Haitien art
Port au Prince – Haïti

2004/2006

(travelling exhibition)
Africa Remix
Art contemporain d’un continent
24 July 2004 - 7 Nov 2004
Museum Kunst Palast
Düsseldorff - Germany

10 Feb 2005 - 17 April 2005
Hayward Gallery
London - England

15 May 2005 - 20 Aug 2005
Centre Georges Pompidou
Paris - France

Feb - May 2006
Mori Art Museum
Tokyo - Japan

2001

La Cité dans la peinture populaire, Wallonie Bruxelles Center of Kinshasa, Kinshasa - Democratic Republic of Congo

2000

An/Sichten-Malerei aus dem Kongo 1990-2000
Museum für Völkerkunde
Wien - Austria

1999

Quatre peintres congolais, Cultural Center Gembloux
Brussel - Belgium

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2007

Why Africa?
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Electa & Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli.

2006

100% Africa
Exhibition catalogue. Published by TF Editores & FMGB Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.
Exhibition catalogue.

2005

15 ans de transition, Memling Hotel
Exhibition catalogue : Celestin Badibanga and Joseph Ibongo.

2004/2006

Africa Remix
Exhibition catalogue. published in German, English, French and Japanese. Published by Hatje Cantz Verlag.

2003

Kin Moto Na Bruxelles
Exhibition catalogue : Celestin Badibanga and al.

2002

Marc Dengis Gallery

2001

La Cité dans la peinture populaire, Wallonie Bruxelles Center of Kinshasa,
Exhibition catalogue : Joseph Ibongo

2000

An/Sichten-Malerei aus dem Kongo 1990-2000
Museum für Völkerkunde
Exhibition catalogue : Bogumil Jewsiewicki and Barbara Plankensteiner.