KOUKA NO[S] CULTURE[S]
Press Release JARDIN ROUGE Presents KOUKA BANTUS No(s) culture(s) As a free figure of the urban artistic scene, Kouka presents at Jardin Rouge the reassuring and protective force of his Bantus, since the may, 4th of 2015. Graduated from the Beaux Arts of Avignon, Kouka shuns any academicism nevertheless and refers «as a pure product of the tar». The artist wants to express, and not to represent, an essential reality, freed of the misleading screens of the appearance: the reality we feel, which he feels, by observing our societies. In his painting, the feeling dominates, no spasm, just an anchored humanity, a consciousness. In 2008, as an eternal traveler, Kouka let Africa inspires him by the meeting with an African original civilization: the Bantus. Since then, Kouka wants to honor their memory and began a long work on the question of the identity. As the embodiment of the quest for the origins, these standing humans question us about the life and the death, the past and the present but also on the traditions and the cultures. The event «Bantus NO [S] CULTURE [S]» marks the return on the African continent of these pacifist Bantus. Jardin Rouge reveals about twenty wood panels that the artist Kouka realized during his Moroccan residences.
BIOGRAPHIE Kouka is a painter born in Paris in 1981. Franco-Congolese, he has never stopped questioning his origins through his paintings and street art. Asserting himself through an obsessive focus on the self-portrait, Kouka questions his identity. By adding his «writings» to figurative elements, the artist creates a veil between his face and the viewer, the thought provoking words extend the impact of what the eyes can see in the self-portrait. Sometimes, the subject recedes and allows the power of the text to appear. Indistinct, inscrutable, enigmatic, the language is no longer identified, the words turn into symbols, the power of interpretation lies elsewhere. Kouka s researches are mainly revolving around the essence of human nature and the Bantu in particular. According to him, they represent Man living in harmony with nature, and a culture at peace with our planet. These Bantu are now standing on the walls of many cities; the artist wishes to remind us that while a territory can be seized, culture cannot be taken over. His «Chimpanzees» series follows this way of thinking, bringing us back to what we would be without our cultural heritage. Kouka s work is characterised by an expressive and spontaneous gesture, deliberately showing the imperfections and the drips. He is an honest man who became an emblematic artist of the Jardin Rouge s residency. Balakoi mixed techniques on wood 2015 170 x 130 cm
EXPOSITIONS 2015 Butterfly, Galerie Taglialatella, Paris, France Dali fait le mur, Strasbourg, France Wynwood Walls, Miami, USA 2014 Solo Show, Galerie Taglialatella, Paris, France Dali Fait le Mur, Espace Dali, Paris, France Pièces Détachées, Galerie Wallworks, Paris, France Made In France, GCA Gallery, Nice Art Stage Singapore, We Are Asia, Singapour 2013 L Enfant Blam, New HeArt City Gallery, Paris, France Opus Délits Show, Espace Pierre Cardin Athensaf, Be a Part Festival, Athènes, Greece Who the Cap Fit, Yakin & Boaz Gallery, Casablanca, Marocco Défense d Afficher, L Avant Seine / Théâtre de Colombe, Colombes, France New Art Fair, Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris, France 2012 No Culture, Galerie Frichez nous la Paix, Paris, France 2011 Flateurville, Le Hangar de Marcel, Paris, France Identité, New HeArt City Gallery, Paris, France Guerrier Bantu, Articulez, Paris, France 2010 T.R.A.C.E.S., La Forge de Belleville, Paris, France Corps de Femmes, Espace Confluences, Paris, France
Contact : Estelle Guilié Artistic Director tel : +212 6 15 64 01 35 Mail : contact@jardinrouge.com Site Internet : http://montresso.com