When he has 16, Chéri Samba left the small village that saw her born to go to Kinshasa where he began a career as a designer of advertising signs. Seven years later, in 1979, the self-taught artist signs his first paintings of his name. From the Centre Pompidou to the Moma, his works are now preserved in the most emblematic museums and continue to arouse great interest among international collectors.
Result : 80600 € | Result : 104000 € |
Since the mid-1970s, the Congolese capital has been an important centre for comic books. The artist is, for a time, an illustrator for an entertainment newspaper and multiplies comic book experiences in magazines.
Characterized by its clear lines and bright colors and the presence of writings in several languages, Chéri Samba’s painting is largely porous to this influence. In 1975, the presentation of his works on the walls of the workshop he had just invested gave him a certain reputation through a few articles in the national press.
Several of these paintings are presented as part of the exhibition «Magicians of the Earth» in 1989 at the Centre Pompidou. Success is changing in scale. His orders now come from abroad. He was invited to the Venice Biennale in 2007.
Result : 23400 € |  Result : 35100 € |
The links that unite his painting with the Congolese folk painting represented by Chéri Cherin or Moke are solid. His figurative canvases can in an iconographic repertoire borrowed from everyday life, urban art as well as advertising imagery. Often loquacious, they address the major themes that cross the African continent (ecology, demography, economics, health, etc.). By the simplicity of its composition, the canvas Le Petit Kadogo evokes with great effectiveness the problem of child soldiers. He also regularly questions the status of an artist through self-portraits as in J'aime la couleur, a work made in 2004.
Result : 65000 € | Result : 432440 ZAR |
Between false naivety and true commitment, the artist plays the role of an observer by regularly staging himself within the pictorial space in order to convey the most important messages.
