Chéri Samba, 1956
Chéri Samba was born in 1956 in Kinto M’Vuila, Democratic Republic of Congo, and currently lives and works in Kinshasa.
In 1972, Samba left school to apprentice with the sign painters on Kasa Vubu Avenue in Kinshasa. From this circle of artists — which included Moke, Bodo, and later his younger brother Cheik Ledy — emerged one of the most vibrant schools of popular painting in the twentieth century.
Working as both a billboard painter and a comic strip artist, Samba combined the visual languages of both fields when he began painting on sacking cloth, as canvas was too expensive.
In 1975, he introduced the use of comic-style speech bubbles, allowing him to add narrative and commentary directly into his compositions. He explained: “I noticed that people would walk by paintings without stopping. If I added text, they would pause to read it — that became the ‘Samba signature.’”
By the early 1980s, Samba began signing his works “Chéri Samba: Artiste Populaire.” His reputation soon expanded beyond Kinshasa, and by the mid-1980s he had gained an international audience.
His paintings from this period offer sharp commentary on the social, political, economic, and cultural realities of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). He addressed themes such as popular customs, sexuality, illness, social inequality, and corruption. “My painting is concerned with people’s lives,” he said. “Artists must make people think.”
From the late 1980s onward, Samba increasingly placed himself at the center of his compositions — not as an act of vanity, but as a commentator on what it means to be a successful African artist on the world stage.
source: CAACART