François Iloki, 1934-1993
Biography

François Iloki (1934–1993) was a Congolese painter from Brazzaville and one of the leading figures of the École de Peinture de Poto-Poto, the painting movement founded in 1951 by the French artist Pierre Lods.

Iloki's paintings are built from bold geometric shapes and a vivid, decorative palette, depicting stylised birds, masks and scenes of village life rendered in the flattened, hard-edged manner that defines the Poto-Poto school. Like his contemporaries, he signed his work with the initials “PPP” (Peintres de Poto-Poto).

His paintings are held in private and gallery collections internationally, and interest in his work — alongside that of the wider Poto-Poto generation — has grown in recent decades. His son, Jacques Iloki, also became a painter working in a related style.

source: Proantic; African Contemporary essay on the Poto-Poto School