CHÉRI SAMBA
Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present a major solo exhibition of new and recent paintings by Chéri Samba, one of the preeminent artists at work in Africa today.
May 8 - June 15, 2024
Chéri Samba grew up in Kinto M’Vuila, Democratic Republic of Congo, possessed of an entrepreneurial spirit and energetic creativity. As a teenager, he left home for the capital city of Kinshasa to pursue an artistic career. He found work as a billboard and advertisement painter, but was soon able to open his own studio where he made and exhibited his work.
Living and working in the cultural center of a newly independent DRC, Samba and his peers Pierre Bodo and Moké fostered a new mode of artistic production, inflected with social commentary, which they called “popular painting.” The intention of popular painting was to make art of the people and for the people, in ways that spoke directly and clearly about contemporary issues. In L’Intelligence Aveugle (Blind Intelligence), a father stands on the bank of a wide river with his son, who asks him questions about the “discovery” of the mouth of the Congo River.
Following a decade of exhibitions in Kinshasa, Samba first received international in 1989 when his work featured prominently in “Magiciens de la Terre,” a major group exhibition at the Centre Pompidou that sought to bring overlooked international artists to the forefront of the global stage..
Following this exhibition, Samba quickly rose to prominence internationally: his work was featured in solo exhibitions at the ICA London, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and MAMCO, Genève, and he participated in group presentations at Tate Modern, the MFA Houston, and the ICA Philadelphia. In 2007, Robert Storr featured Samba’s work in the Venice Biennale, and in 2019, the Museum of Modern Art featured his work in an exhibition titled “Inner and Outer Space,” alongside work by his peers including Moké and Bodys Isek Kingelez.
The painting features a man whose body swirls in a thin ribbon of flesh, the outside of which is highly realistic, and the inside of which is hot pink, dripping the many colors of the rainbow. Across the painting’s lower margin, Samba inscribes: “Color is the universe, the universe is life. Let each of us put green where it is by planting a tree.”
At the hear of Samba’s practice lies a deep commitment to engaging with his audience. He believes that, by intermingling text among his imagery, he is able to slow down his viewer and more effectively transmit his message. Samba’s paintings provide a critical examination of socio-political situations, tackling gritty problems with a canny mix of sincerity and wit.