Zinkpè, the Beninese artist - The mirror to the soul

Zinkpè, or Dominique Zinkpè in full, is among the most surprising of artists. This Beninese designer, painter, sculptor, video director and installation artist grapples with the most difficult aspects of the human condition, without sacrificing the beauty of his art in conveying his personal revolts. His work is even more significant and full of humour when he paints what is unjust and even unbearable. Zinkpè spoke to the Courier during his last major exhibition, ’Metamorphoses”, at the Fine Art Studio (22 June – 20 August 2011) held in Brussels.

Zinkpè has exhibited in some of the  most prestigious venues of every continent and has won highly coveted prizes such as the Young African Talent Prize at the ‘Grapholies’ in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, at the age of 23, and the UEMOA award at the Dak'art Biennial of 2002.  

A new vocabulary to describe his art

Zinkpè’a art is brimming with inventiveness. His sculptures are often reductions, reassociations and metamorphoses of the same base elements, like a small Ibedji statuette from Nigeria. In describing some of his installations, such as his vehicle installations with their utterly natural aesthetic, moving about with their luggage and passengers, it is hard to avoid having recourse to use newly create expressions such as move art and move artist. “Taxi Shut up Jealous!” (2000) and “Taxi Petro CFA” (2010), for example, are simply amazing.  

"I had to be resourceful. I was lucky enough not to have passed through the academies of art of the former Soviet bloc. Some young artists did their training there and on their return got access to good posts provided that they airbrushed the portraits of the head of state and his nearest and dearest. Others, like myself, used pieces of string, earth or natural pigments, anything we could get hold of."

Then he encountered the work of Christian Lattier. "When I was 23 years old, at the Grapholies, I discovered Christian Lattier, who used all kinds of string and just one colour. That was a slap in the face for me, as I have always been drawn to kitsch. I hadn’t studied fine arts, and I had all sorts of self-doubts and I wondered what I was doing there in such company. There was also Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, whose work I found too simplistic and banal, and yet who had won one of the most prestigious prizes. I became confused.  But what was my opinion worth? And then the prize for young talent was announced, and it was me. I almost wanted to run away and I cried. I was afraid of this weight over me. I went back home in a state of confusion. That was 1993, and I set to work"  

The mirror to the soul

The painting of Zinkpè is all about fluidity. When he tackles subjects that are dear to him, sacred or very personal, it becomes clear that his art is an external reflection of his soul. Though a draughtsman to the core, Zinkpè quickly took to painting and sculpture, and often blurs the borders between the disciplines. The sculptures are painted, and light plays a major role in his installations, which are inspired by the aesthetics of the circus and theatre sets. It is a fantasy which enables him to better represent the commedia dell'arte of this world, with all its pettiness and all its grandeur.  

Art with a sting in its tail

The painted sculpture 'My hen' (a hen with the body of a woman, her genital organs on view, crucified) shown at the exhibition “Metamorphosis” is symbolic.  The piece is hugely powerful and beautiful but is neither vulgar, nor aims to provoke. It is the first preliminary sketch of a planned series of the 14 stations of the ‘Way of the Cross’, a work aimed to amuse the onlooker, “without disrespecting the church and religion”. Zinkpè was excommunicated by the archdiocese of Cotonou for a picture in the same style inspired by the Pope’s banning of the pill by the pope. Fortunately peace was later made and the excommunication revoked.  

"I spent a large part of my youth under a Marxist-Leninist regime in my country. I had artist friends who were imprisoned. I understood that one had to subvert one’s intentions in order to express oneself. And I felt that with art I had in my hand an incomparable tool. Becoming an artist was a political act, and I forgot about all the doubt about the quality of my work. The purpose of my art was to say something, not necessarily to provoke, but to assert myself, not only where I lived but in the entire region."  

Expansion of the field of plastic arts  

Sure enough, his art soon spread throughout the region, and at the expense of the Togolese dictator Eyadema. Invited by the French Institute and the Goethe Institute of Lomé, he took his inspiration from the city’s rickshaws. The work exhibited is a typical example of move art. “The supporters of the regime often used leaflets to summon the population to rallies in honour of the president, and I, puny as I am, was there driving a rickshaw with a dummy of Eyadema in the back, distributing around some mock leaflets for one of the president’s meetings. The subterfuge went on for quite a long time. At the press conference on the event that followed, I announced that I was going to wash my face and I jumped out of a window and headed straight for the border with a friend." The police who thought had come to pick the president up were left speechless.  

For a long time Zinkpè was sad that his art, which he saw as a political tool, did not reach the villagers of his area as much as he would have liked: they told him that his art was beautiful, but that it was for Europeans. He told them: "But it’s you that I’m painting!"  Boundless energy for his work has little by little, he believes, brought him closer to the essence, the portrait of the soul that art must reflect.  

One day, in the market of his local town, where he shows his works on principle despite his great fame, an old lady pressed 200 CFA francs (€0.30) into the palm of his palm of his hand, saying “I cannot buy the painting, but take that as my thanks for expressing our thoughts like this.”  Tears welled up in Zinkpè’s eyes as he told us, "I always treasure this note. It is the highest price that I’ve ever received for one of my works".  

Why Zinkpè?

Sandra Delvaux Agbessi, director of the Fine Art Studio in Brussels confides to the Courier, “There was a strong attraction at first sight with his work, but there has been a long progression over the past ten years since I first presented his work in group expositions. Now the artist has matured, not that his work wasn’t of very high quality from the beginning. Each artist experiences that time of fluctuation in their work and then they reach a point where they have nothing left to prove. Zinkpè has reached this pivotal period. He has become known. I’m willing to bet on it.

Recent Fine Art Studio publications: www.fineartstudio.be

- Zinkpè. Metamorphosis, 2011

- Pierre Armouche Just the body 2011 (photos taken at Lomé)

Hegel Goutier