A major figure of contemporary African art, a self-taught artist, Dominique Zinkpè was born in 1969 in Cotonou, Benin. He developed a passion for drawing at a very young age, and he began documenting his work at the library of the Centre Culturel Français where he discovered a new universe and opened up to the world. He exhibited for the first time at the Chinese Cultural Center in 1993 in Cotonou where he was awarded "the status of Artist" as he likes to say. The same year, he was selected to be part of the Beninese delegation at the Grapholies exhibition in Abidjan and received the Young African Talent Award! His meeting with Christian Lattier made him realize the importance of "developing a personal language and writing; I freed myself from too easy gestures and frills". Dominique Zinkpè's career is then launched and will progressively mark contemporary African creation through large and remarkable installations, such as his "Taxi-brousse" and a prolific production of drawings and paintings, which cross borders and continents!
Resurgence
Through his multidisciplinary practice that does not lock itself into a single creative process, through his inspiration drawing from various universes and through the universality of his intentions, Dominique Zinkpè creates works that are resurgent. Like springs resurfaced after their infiltration in the rock and enriched with sediments, his creations are charged with inspirations captured in different strata. In the first place no doubt, the cultural universe of the artist and his proximity to the voodoo cult from which, among other things, come the magical universe of his characters halfway between human and animal, but also the amulets of the cult of the twins, which, aggregated, become sculptures. Secondly, it is about a more universal reflexion on the spirit of Man and his soul, the game of human comedy and the shortcomings of our societies in their hypocrisy and the disparity of their exchanges. Finally, the humility of the artist and his respect for the lengthy passage of time carry these fragile protean and universal rebirths.
A committed artist
Playing on the interactions between symbols and clichés, Zinkpè's installations are social satires exposing the injustices of the world. The "Taxi-Zinkpè" presented from Niamey to Apt through the Biennale of Dakar, the Biennale of Havana or during the 2008 edition of the International Theatre Festival of Benin, show the inventiveness, the resilience of peoples to the harsh realities of the African continent, denounce the precariousness of the poor, social injustices, and also raise the issue of the urgent need to relocate, exchange, even migrate to survive in the face of the stagnation of the economies of the continent. For "Africa is still sick, bedridden and agonizing, underperfusion". Thus was born the installation "In spite of everything!". UEMOA Prize at the Biennale Dak'Art 2002, dugout canoes assembled from thousands of figurines hohô to the assault of waves materialized by plastic flip-flops, like the one exhibited at the Villa Arson, Nice, or the wide-body plane "Afrique Arrive" made up of the same figurines at the 2012 edition of the Biennale Regard Bénin that he chairs, as well as the "Passage d'immigrés", a giant Tati bag installed on a square in Berlin. With a strong visual impact and without fear of being literal, these installations that have made the reputation of the artist, are works of pedagogy aiming at raising awareness and inviting the world to review its global functioning and its modes of distribution of wealth.
Art is a vocation
The artist carries the imperious necessity to transmit, to preach, to reveal. "Art is a sacerdotal ministry," he says. Aware of the difficulty of accessing knowledge and training in the field of artistic creation in Benin, Zinkpè very quickly developed educational activities for young artists.Thus he created in 1999 the project "Boulev'Art, artists in the street" so as to share the works of contemporary artists with a large public, then the association "Ayïzo - Work of the mind" which recently opened the space "Unik-place of contemporary creation" in Abomey, so as to share the professional experiences of artists to transmit their knowledge and promote their work.Thus he created in 1999 the project "Boulev'Art, artists in the street" so as to share the works of contemporary artists with a large public, then the association "Ayïzo - Work of the mind" which recently opened the space "Unik-place of contemporary creation" in Abomey, so as to share the professional experiences of artists to transmit their knowledge and promote their work. His workshop also has about twenty collaborators to whom he provides income and shares know-how and skills.
Amédé Régis Mulin