Lema Kusa (born 24 July 1944) is a well-known graphic artist and painter from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
Birth and education
Lema Kusa was born on 24 July 1944 in
Kinkenge in
Bas-Congo
Kongo Central ( kg, Kongo dia Kati ), formerly Bas-Congo is one of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Its capital is Matadi.
History
At the time of independence, the area now encompassing Kongo Central was part of the g ...
. He was educated at the Protestant school of pastors and teachers in
Kimpese. In 1958 he entered the
Academy of Fine Arts
The following is a list of notable art schools.
Accredited non-profit art and design colleges
* Adelaide Central School of Art
* Alberta College of Art and Design
* Art Academy of Cincinnati
* Art Center College of Design
* The Art Institute ...
in present day
Kinshasa to study advertising painting and illustrations. After seven years he was awarded a diploma and a scholarship to study graphic arts at the
Saint-Luc Higher Institute of Fine Arts in
Liège, Belgium. He also took courses at the Liege Graduate School of Business and was a visiting student at the
University of Louvain's Institute of Political and Social Science. He then completed his professional development through work in the University of Louvain External Relations department, the Inter Marco Publicem and Publisynthèse advertising agencies in Brussels, and the printers Mambourg in Liege, Acobel in Brussels and Agfa-Gevaert in Mortsel.
[
]
Career
As soon as he returned to Zaire, Lema Kusa took the position of professor and (l'Académie des Beaux-Arts).
At the same time he became head of the drawing studio for the leading advertising agency in Congo, then in 1974 launched his own agency, "Design Promotion".
From 1981 he was deputy section chief in charge of teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts.[
He also became CEO of the ]National Institute of Arts, Kinshasa
The National Institute of Arts, Kinshasa (l'Institut National des Arts or INA) is a higher educational institution that provides training to performance artists in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The INA was established on 1 December ...
, a position he was holding in 2008 while also a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Work
In his spare time from his different jobs Lema Kusa created strong and moral paintings.
He painted drunks, prostitutes, market figures, beggars and idlers with a strong expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
palette and a distinctive and subtle humor.
His paintings are often symbolic and sometimes abstract.
Although highly original, his paintings always show the desire to please the public derived from his training in advertising.[
He has said of his paintings of women that if God created woman last, he must then have found perfection. He paints women as happy, beautiful and opulent, with their beauty providing a doorway for entering into the mystery of creation.]International Association of Art Critics
The International Association of Art Critics (''Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art'', ''AICA'') was founded in 1950 to revitalize critical discourse, which suffered under Fascism during World War II. Affiliated with UNESCO AICA was ad ...
at Kinshasa N'Sele (1973), exhibition of avant-garde painters in Paris (1975), Festival of Basel (1978) and solo exhibitions in New York and Atlanta (1980).
He participated in the National Symposium on Authenticity in September 1981 at N'Sele held by the Writers' Union of Zaire.
He is a member of the National Association of Artists in Fine Arts and an associate member of AICA / Zaire.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusa, Lema
Living people
1944 births