Dominique Zinkpè, (b. Benin, 1969) Mixed media on paper Signed (Lower right) 46 x 37cm (18.1 x 14.

Dominique Zinkpè, (b. Benin, 1969) Mixed media on paper Signed (Lower right) 46 x 37cm (18.1 x 14.6in)

Framed and glazed

Dominique Zinkpè was born in 1969 in Cotonou in the Republic of Benin. He has participated in numerous exhibitions workshops and residences in Africa, Europe and South America. Zinkpè gained early recognition through the Prix Jeune Talent Africain, awarded to him at the Grapholie in Abidjan in 1993. He went on to win the Prix Umeoa at the Dak`art Biennial, Senegal in 2002.

A self-taught artist, Zinkpe`s oeuvre is complex and wide ranging, spanning installations, drawings, painting, sculpture and video. There is a restlessness within Zinkpe that prevents him from confining his creative processes to one medium. He is perhaps most well-known for his large scale sculptures, like his `taxi-brousse` project, where he used painted taxis overloaded with passengers and luggage to examine themes of transience and accumulation. His paintings and drawings, however, represent his most intimate work – significantly they are produced at the private studio in his house as opposed to his hectic sculpture and installation studio in the centre of Cotonou.

The paintings and drawings follow tortuous journeys where figures hover midway between human and animal, recalling power games, masquerades or sex, all with a strong satirical flavour. The works play out the mystical, philosophical, and cultural conundrums thrown up by the merging of Catholicism and Animism and traditional and contemporary culture. His distinctive brilliance reveals itself on the canvas; intimate, powerful and coquettish. The works are disturbing and arresting constructs of the imagination mirroring the dilemmas and complexities of Zinkpe`s own life.

Exhibited:

Seven Artists, One Continent, Ed Cross Fine Art, London, 2009 Click here to view Catalogue