Mboa refers to his paintings as ‘Soul Prints,’ a play on the word ‘imprint.’ He makes them on steel, a material that, for the artist, evokes strength, beauty, as well as the future of mankind. Mboa opts for steel from Cameroon, a choice that fuses his artistic materials and personal origins. To make the works, he uses an additive and subtractive process. He begins by covering the steel surface with a layer of black paint and then loosely outlining his figures and tropical backgrounds. Using brush and spray, Mboa fills his drawings with vivid tones of paint. Finally, he carves meticulously with utmost precision into the steel, revealing the original and natural steel surface which brings these paintings to life.
Mboa’s singular practice engages simultaneously with both material and spiritual realms, invoking a worldview inherited from his grandmother, a traditional healer who engaged with the spirit of plants and nature. His carvings resemble sprawling neural networks that evoke organic movement and pay homage to the body as a vessel. His subjects, portrayed using biometric patterns, express the artist's own inner spirit, and investigate identity, or, more accurately, the illusion of it. By exploring theduality of physical fragility and the intangible yet eternal nature of the soul, his works unfold the interconnectedness of living beings.
Source: Tiger Gallery
Mboa refers to his paintings as ‘Soul Prints,’ a play on the word ‘imprint.’ He makes them on steel, a material that, for the artist, evokes strength, beauty, as well as the future of mankind. Mboa opts for steel from Cameroon, a choice that fuses his artistic materials and personal origins. To make the works, he uses an additive and subtractive process. He begins by covering the steel surface with a layer of black paint and then loosely outlining his figures and tropical backgrounds. Using brush and spray, Mboa fills his drawings with vivid tones of paint. Finally, he carves meticulously with utmost precision into the steel, revealing the original and natural steel surface which brings these paintings to life.
Mboa’s singular practice engages simultaneously with both material and spiritual realms, invoking a worldview inherited from his grandmother, a traditional healer who engaged with the spirit of plants and nature. His carvings resemble sprawling neural networks that evoke organic movement and pay homage to the body as a vessel. His subjects, portrayed using biometric patterns, express the artist's own inner spirit, and investigate identity, or, more accurately, the illusion of it. By exploring theduality of physical fragility and the intangible yet eternal nature of the soul, his works unfold the interconnectedness of living beings.
Source: Tiger Gallery
