Descripción de la Exposición
Black is Beautiful
By Paul Laster
A recognized talent even before completing his Masters in Drawing and Painting from the Foumban Institute of Fine Arts in Cameroon in 2018, Anjel had the good fortune of being a 2016 artist-in-residence at the prestigious Les Ateliers Sahm in Brazzaville, Congo, where he was so fascinated by the city’s celebrated dandies that he began making these colorful characters the primary subjects of his vibrant paintings.
Having always been interested in figurative art—he started drawing characters from comic books when he was just nine years old and was the president of his secondary school’s art club when he was sixteen—Anjel became deeply interested in the history of art while at the university, where he had a teacher who taught him the importance of perseverance in his practice and consistency in his work—two invaluable lessons that he has put to great use.
Forever grateful to his cousin Samuel Njomke, a local artist who gave him his first drawing lessons, and the prominent Cameroonian artists Jean Jacques Kanté and Herve Youmbi, whose masterful uses of color and form continue to inspire, Anjel has achieved a sophisticated style of portrait painting, which packs a powerful punch.
Creating a visual contrast between realistically rendered black bodies (both friends and figures found on social media sites and through Internet searches) and abstract, logo-loaded, colored grounds, Anjel makes Neo-Pop Art paintings that provide spirited insights into his stylish models, while simultaneously pointing out the pervasive influence of consumer culture.
Exposición. 19 nov de 2024 - 02 mar de 2025 / Museo Nacional del Prado / Madrid, España
Formación. 23 nov de 2024 - 29 nov de 2024 / Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) / Madrid, España
