Roger BOTEMBE, Kinshasa, 1959-2019

Series of buffaloes. Charcoal on paper. 20 x 30. Signed, dated 2005, framed. Expo RDC 2060. Born in 1959 in Kinshasa, Roger Botembe is one of the most talented artists of his generation. He is a major figure in Trans-Symbolism, a renaissance movement in contemporary African art, that is both figurative and realistic. The artist travelled all over Africa and the world to exhibit and teach. During his career as a painter, muralist and sculptor, he has received many awards, honors and accolades. Furthermore, he transcended tradition in his art by developing his paintings through the exploration of signs and symbols taken from traditional African sculptures and masks. In 1992, Roger Botembe founded Ateliers Botembe, a Congolese school of contemporary African art. In addition, he was Associate professor and head of the Arts-Plastiques section at the Académie des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa and director of International Cooperation and Promotion at the Institute of National Museums of Congo since 2006. As a painter, Roger Botembe believed in the essence of movement and mystery. He observed, astonished and translated life through increasingly enigmatic forms. His range of colors defined and dissolved somewhere between figurism and abstractionism.