“I want to give value to the black body, I’m trying to give some kind of attention, some kind of attraction, to the person of color.”
Anje is a Cameroonian artist who has established himself as a prominent figure in the art world, known for his vibrant and sophisticated portrait paintings. Even before completing his Masters in Drawing and Painting from the Foumban Institute of Fine Arts in Cameroon in 2018, Anje was already considered a talented artist. His interest in figurative art began at a young age, drawing characters from comic books and later deepening his knowledge of art history as the president of his secondary school's art club.
In 2016, Anje was an artist-in-residence at Les Ateliers Sahm in Brazzaville, Congo, where he became fascinated with the city's celebrated dandies and began making them the primary subjects of his work. Anje's Neo-Pop Art paintings offer a spirited insight into the stylish models while pointing out the pervasive influence of consumer culture. His earlier works featured black bodies filled with logos from famous fashion brands, while recent works portray them against logo-layered backgrounds.
Anjels art has been exhibited in several galleries across the world, including his first solo show, "Black is Beautiful," at Barcelona's OOA Gallery, which discovered his artistic talent and organized his initial European exhibition in 2017. His paintings capture the essence of the African dandies, known as sapeurs, who spend all their money on fashion, and portray them as religious figures, following their own rules to maintain respect within the community. Anjel's recent works depict voguish female dandies and tackle current social issues such as the coronavirus pandemic and racial injustice.
Anje acknowledges the influence of Andy Warhol's Pop culture and admires painters like Tim Okamura, Fahamu Pecou, Amy Sherald, and Kehinde Wiley, who treat the black body in their work. He conceptualizes his paintings by adding metaphors and ideas that take his art beyond physical realism into a magical realm. Anje's perseverance and consistency in his work, combined with his unique style, have made him a sought-after artist in the contemporary art scene.