Zinkpe

Septieme Paris presents an exhibition of new works by Zinkpe, a major artist on the Beninese contemporary scene, in the form of silent variations. Offering a window onto Zinkpe's universe from Septieme's Parisian space, this score of drawings on canvas opens the field to the abolition of modern boundaries between the spiritual, human, animal and vegetable orders, to propose another possible ordering of reality.

Zinkpe’s world is provocative, disturbing and shocking. With cynicism, he offers a deliberately disjointed commentary on human comedy and its false pretenses. He explores the proximity of passion, sexuality, violence and the immanence of power. He tackles his greatest unknown as a man: femininity, maternity and fertility. Bodies are transformed into imprecise masses capable of conveying sensations in images, evoking the two original human impulses : desire and death.

Zinkpe was born in 1969 in Cotonou, Benin. He began his career participating in numerous workshops and residencies in Africa and Europe. Very quickly, he gained recognition with the Young African Talent Prize received during Grapholie in Abidjan. Present at major events of the international art scene, the Dakar Biennale awarded him the Uemoa Prize in 2002. Zinkpe’s approach is complex and diverse. Far from confining himself to a single medium, he appropriates all kinds of media, as long as they allow him to express himself: installation, drawing, painting, sculpture, and video. When you look at his work, it seems obvious that he does not wish to lock himself into a creative process. On the contrary, he never stops questioning himself. His art often challenges, sometimes points a finger, other times denounces.