Photo courtesy of the artist's studio.
Overview
Based in San Antonio, Texas (USA), Sesse Elangwe (b. 1994) is a visual artist from Buea, Cameroon. He creates compelling paintings based on his digested response to personal and communal encounters that reflect his cultural and socio-political environment. Drawing aesthetics from realism, pop art and surrealism, Sesse employs portraiture to critically document some of the conditions experienced by the Black people globally.
The contemporaneity of his acrylic-painted subjects is often in conversation with the colorful medium. A vacuum, a yellow safety jacket, a carry-on suitcase or simply the fashion statements are all clues relating to the space the artist and his subjects occupy. They translate a common experience of time and space through a personal lens, anchoring the work of the artist in burning socio-cultural realities. While the simplicity of the scenes seem insignificant, the direct gaze of the figures featuring the now signature asymmetric eyes of the artist encourage the viewers to connect and project themselves in this shared reality. They encourage contemplation and stand as an invitation to self-reflection as a beacon of hope. The stark black skin of his protagonists heavily contrasts with the other vibrant colors he uses, contributing in accentuating the perceived gravity of the artist’s subjects. This pigmentation defines the limit of their bodies, a common thread in the work of the artist, but also a frontier across which contextualization matters. The clothes and the environment that accompany the figures embody the shaping materiality among which these bodies evolve.
Borrowing the framework of Nietzsche to interpret the message of the artist, one is struck by the balance of both strength and calmness embodied by these figures standing as a contemporary reinterpretation of the Ubermensch, earthly being both compassionate and ruthless. The humble and neutral compositions allow for an objective reading of the situation: empowering and giving a voice to underrepresented, everyday people. Concerned with racial stakes, the artist wonders about combatting societal norms by delving into why structures exist and how to thrive under these limiting conditions.
Sesse Elangwe’s work has been exhibited over the past nine years across four continents. His solo exhibition with Bwo will be his first ever solo exhibition in his home country. Earlier this year, Elangwe was featured in his first museum show, “Sound of Blackness” a group show curated by Larry Osei-Mensah at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. Later this year, he will be featured in another museum group exhibition at the Kunsthal KAdE, in Amersfoort, Netherlands.
Works by Elangwe have been collected globally and integrated prestigious private collections such as: The Green family art foundation (Dallas, Texas), W Art foundation (Shanghai, China), Xitang foundation (Beijing, China), Lester Marks collection (Houston, Texas), Schulting Collection (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Pamela Hornik Collection (Palo Alto, California), Tim Tan Collection (Manila, Philippines), Casauccelo Collection (Manila, Philippines), Marcus Tan Ser Lay (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Roberto Mancini Collection (St Tropez, France) etc.