Hervé Yamguen (born 1971 in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It was home to Central Africa's largest port, now being replaced by Kribi port. It has the country ...

) is a

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

ian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. A

self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...

artist, he launched himself in painting, sculpture and he discovered a passion for the writing which enables him to wonder about its daily live. He currently works on plays. He grew up in Douala, and currently lives and works in one of the most popular districts of the city, New Bell. It is this environment which nourishes the imaginary of Hervé whose plastic work turns around the face, the body and the place of it in the world.

Works

Yamguen was born into a family that valued tradition, and they initially refused to accept his choice to become an artist. From childhood, he was attracted to the way in which artists interpreted their own realities in their works, and has said that "being an artist is a way of existing in the world and is closely associated with spirituality". He started painting at the age of 17 and became a professional artist by the late 1980s after refusing to enter the monastery. Afterwards, his family supported his artistic pursuits. Self-taught, he refined his techniques by reading about art history, which led him to develop his singular vision of art. Subsequently, he received a year of training (2000-2001) at

École des Arts Décoratifs École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

(ESAD) in Strasbourg, France. He has done many study and production residencies in Cameroon and abroad. Yamguen is also known for his writings about the

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...

s (drawing, painting, sculpture), as well as his poetry. He has made a few forays into photography, performance, installation and has regularly done stage designs for the theater. The themes present in his work are

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

, the questioning of the human-plant-animal and bird. Through these themes, he tells the story of humans and invites one to look at life with wonder; the small details of daily life that represent the beauty of the world and make life more pleasurable. Yamguen is inspired by the work (technical, power of the work, style) of several writers and artists who work on wonder, whimsy and imagination:

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Henri Michaux Henri Michaux (; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenhei ...

, and the

Surrealist poets This is a list of Surrealist poets, known for writing material within the Surrealist cultural movement that began in the early 1920s. Surrealist poets * Will Alexander (born 1948) - American Surrealist poet, novelist, essayist, playwright * L ...

. The artist wants to invite the public to reflect on his humanity in order to become better. According to him, the reception of his work is not enthusiastic: either it is too risqué or inaccessible. Hervé Yamguen is one of the members of the Cercle Kapsiki, a collective consisting of Yamguen and several other Cameroonian artists. As a member of the Cercle, he took part in ''Scénographies Urbaines'', (Urban Scenographies) in January 2003, an event and artist residency organized by the collective. The project was based out of the New Bell neighborhood of Douala where Yanguen resides, and aimed to help artists express themselves and engage in an exchange with the inhabitants of the district. The workshop also involved Cercle Kapsiki (

Hervé Youmbi Hervé Gabriel Ngamago Youmbi is a Cameroonian artist who lives and works in Douala. He is a founding member of the Cercle Kapsiki, a collective of five Cameroonian artists, founded in 1998. Biography Hervé Youmbi was born in Bangui, Centra ...

, Hervé Yamguen, Blaise Bang, Salifou Lindou,

Jules Wokam Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). In the anglosphere, it is also used for females although it is still a predominantly masculine name.One of the few notable examples of a femal ...

) collaborating with the Scur' k collective (J-C Lanquetin, François Duconseille) inviting other artists from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

and

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, to come together and share details of their lives with the district's population. In 2003, Yamguen exhibited work at the Galerie Mam Art Contemporain within the framework of the project ''Pièce Unique'', initiated by the French Cultural Center of Douala. He also published a long poem '' Le temps de la saison verte'' (The time of the green season), in 1998. A new book is published by the French Cultural Center of Douala. Recently, he was inducted as a dignitary in the village of his father (Bandja-Balassie in the upper Nkam), where he reconnects with the codes of the rituals and customs while maintaining his posture of contemporary artist. His work has been shown in various countries around the world. In France and Germany repeatedly and recently in

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

between 2015 and 2016. Beside his work as a creative, Yamguen has served other functions in the art world. In 2005 and 2006, he taught fine arts in Douala at the secondary level. He was the artistic director of the three editions (2011, 2012 and 2013) of the Marché des Arts Plastiques de Bali. File:Hervé YamguenIMG 0665.jpg, Néons d’Amour, 2007 File:Hervé YamguenIMG 0669.jpg File:Hervé YamguenIMG 0671.jpg File:Hervé Yamguen MG 8240.jpg, Les mots écrits de New-Bell, 2010 File:Hervé Yamguen MG 8236.jpg File:Hervé Yamguen MG 8206.jpg

Publications

* ''Le Temps de la saison verte'', poetry, Les Solitaires intempestifs, 1998 * ''La Nuit cristalline'', livre objet, 12 copies, poetry, 2000 * ''Entre brune et cratère'', livre objet, 10 copies with sérigraphies, poetry, 2000 * ''Le déluge en soi n'est jamais trop loin'', poetry, drawings, CCF Blaise Cendrars, Cameroon, March 2005 * ''Sous les airs du Wouri, Pas de quartier- Brigade d'intervention poétique'', édition du CCF Blaise Cendrars, 2006 * ''Respiration'' in "Interdit de laver sa mobylette", poetry, collaborative work, illustrations by Hervé Yamguen, éditions Opoto, 2007 * ''Hervé Yameguen'' in carnet de la création, éditions de l’œil, 2011 * ''Les oiseaux'', dessins et sculptures, doual’art, 2015

References

External links

Hervé Yamguen drawingHervé Yamguen on ArtfactsHervé Yamguen on AtWork
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamguen, Herve 21st-century Cameroonian artists Living people 1971 births

Works

Publications

See also

Further reading

References

External links