JP Mika

Biography

Jean-Paul Nsimbe Mika was born in 1980 in Kinshasa into a poor family. From a young age he began to put his artistic talent to use, and at thirteen, to earn his living, he was already producing murals, advertising panels and adverts for music groups in his neighbourhood.

Despite many financial difficulties during his secondary studies, he obtained his state diploma in commerce and administration. The income from his sale of advertising panels enabled him to fund his higher studies in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa, from which he graduated in 2007.

He then met the father of Congolese painting, "Chéri Chérin", who took him under his wing. Through his master, he met the other emblematic figure of Congolese painting, Chéri Samba. In 2008, JP Mika was selected to accompany Chéri Chérin to an exhibition in Bilbao, Spain. It was the first step towards international recognition.

In 2011 he presented the series "Deux temps deux modes", in which he confronts past and present fashions by staging animals in the lineage of the popular style that delights in animal representations. For a long time he was influenced by the themes, compositions and techniques of his elders.