Pierre Bodo, who signs his works “Art Bodo”, creates colorful and highly detailed fantastical paintings, drawing subject matter from experiences, observations, and dreams, as well as ideas of national and evangelical identity. Along with Chéri Samba, he is a major proponent of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s “Popular painting” school, a loose affiliate that believes in art’s potential to alter the course of history. “My goals [are]: the improvement of life, and of visible things, and to share my dreams of a better world,” Bodo says. With their visionary, expressive narratives and allegorical hybrid figures, Bodo’s paintings become manifestos for universal enlightenment and political liberation.
