STEVE BANDOMA
Born in 1981 in Kinshasa.
Steve Bandoma graduated from Kinshasa Academy of Fine Arts in 2004 and then opted to move to South Africa. The start of his career in South Africa proved to be hard and anonymous. However, Bandoma gradually constructed his own style, raised his profile, began to exhibit regularly and finally managed to make a name for himself on the South African arts scene, which is a great achievement. In 2009, Bandoma hit the road again, travelling to Paris to take up a residency at the Cité Nationale des Arts. In 2011, he exhibited his work at Art Basel, in Pointe Noire and London, and finally moved back to Kinshasa in 2012 where he showed his work at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles and at the French Institute.
His return meant that the Kinshasa arts scene got to discover Steve Bandoma. And what a discovery it was! To quote the name of one of his exhibitions in Cape Town, it was the contempocalypse! Bandoma employs a mix of drawings, colour projections and collages, making for an incredible aesthetic of explosion or rather implosion, chaos and suffering, often against a backdrop of a clash of civilisations. Faces, limbs, body fragments, animated statuettes and fetish all fuse together to bring alive superficially wild and incoherent creations but that are in fact very well thought-out and carefully arranged; indeed most of the time Bandoma produces series. His creative and vibrant work moves and fascinates people. Several of Steve Bandoma’s artworks are on display at the Beauté Congo - Congo Kitoko exhibition at the Cartier Foundation (Paris, July-Nov. 2015).
Lincoln's vision. Mixed media on paper 150 x 140cm, 2014 Steve Bandoma. Angalia Gallery.