Franco-Cameroonian artist, Fred Ebami, inspired by Andy Warhol’s pop-art movement is exploring African and African-American icons with colorful, digitally drawn portraits.
For the first time, the 45-year-old artist is showcasing his work in Lagos, the commercial and cultural capital of Africa’s most populous nation.
Fred Ebami’s current works cut across the worlds of music, sports and literature. His exhibition which is focused on Africans and Black Americans has portraits of outstanding people such as singer, Nina Simone, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, Nigerian afrobeat star Fela Kuti, and Nobel winner Wole Soyinka.
Ebami speaking in an interview noted that he was influenced by the biggest names in pop art, a movement born in the late 50s in the United Kingdom and the United States, where he has lived for many years.
Born in Villeneuve-la-Garenne, in the suburbs of Paris, the artist revealed his early influences were manga and comics. However, according to him, it was from Roy Lichtenstein that he borrowed striking features and colors to paint icons that inspired him.
Later, it was Andy Warhol’s work that influenced him to paint four versions of the American’s famous tomato soup cans, according to Ebami.
Ebami tackles Political Topics
According to Fred Ebami, “Pop art is inspired by popular culture and is critical of a consumerist society, I also want to play with that”.
For him, there is no better place than Lagos, a megacity of some 20 million people and a mecca for capitalists on the continent.
In addition to the exhibition, the artist has partnered with a Nigerian design brand and sells household objects and a limited edition of T-shirts.
Ebami, who is also exhibiting in Brest, in France, and on social media where he widely shares his work said
“What I want is to make art accessible to everyone. I don’t want my art to be shown only in galleries, I want it to touch as many people as possible”.
Fred Ebami
Ebami noted that appealing to a broad public doesn’t stop him from tackling political topics, “to foster a debate, a discussion”.
It is worth mentioning that last year, when mass youth protests against police brutality rocked Nigeria, he made a portrait of one of the leading activists, Aisha Yesufu, with a raised first and a slogan saying “stop the bleeding”.
Ebami speaking on the police violence said:
“The issue of police violence does not just concern Nigeria, it’s also something you find elsewhere in Africa, but also in Paris, in the United States, and I thought it was important to support the movement [against it]”
Fred Ebami
Tackling another social issue, Ebami mentioned that through art, he wants to pay tribute to black women, who are still often victims of stereotypical representations inherited from colonial times.
During an exhibition earlier this year, there was a portrait of an unknown black woman dressed as former African leader Mobutu, and visitors were invited to look at the portrait. The words “Not Your Exotism” were painted on the colorful background of the portrait.
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