As a child, I believed every human was good. And as an artist, I remain as naïve. Through my work, I wish to remind the world of that inherent goodness, even when it demands depicting someone evil in beautiful light.
My art are pictures in a fairy tale. I paint to rediscover the innocence and naivety of my childhood. Children see the goodness in everyone, and so I approach each piece with a utopian lens not only to titillate and provoke, but to find beauty in all.
I am a London-based, Congolese Canadian, self-taught Portrait Artist. My works are visual celebrations of the binary nature of humanity.
Starring authoritarian figures and stunning women, my pictures depict the human gaze. Eyes are the windows to the soul. The soul is what dictates human action. My paintings and drawings, therefore, are soulful satire.
Often featuring birds, flowers, and humour, I prefer to keep my work symbolically simple and direct; a central subject, with a complementing or juxtaposing element – a pensive face with blooming cherry blossoms, for instance. This simplicity of composition and metaphor offers the viewer a positive starting point from where to venture as deep an interpretation as they desire … to find their own honest account of the presentation. Being self-taught bestows my works with a strong feel of naivety and sense of wonder.
I create from photographs, starting by drawing my subject upside down, which tricks the brain into capturing inner essence and character expression, rather than focusing on achieving the perfect likeness. The result is a realistic interpretation with an impressionistic feel.
My painting style is slow and deliberate. The time I put into a work, layers upon layers of acrylics, lends it its energetic, Afrocentric, and three-dimensional character. Heavy use of translucent paint adds to the whimsical nature of the works. I spend 20 to 50 hours applying ink dots (stippling) on heavy cotton rag paper to achieve a playful effect with my drawings.