Sulger-Buel Gallery cordially invites you to attend the opening of a two-person exhibition featuring the work of Jean-David Nkot & Mohamed Said Chair, entitled 'Disarticulations'. The exhibition will be opened on 15 January 2019 at 18:30 and concludes 05 March 2019.

Born in 1989 in Douala (Cameroon) where he lives and works. In 2010, he obtained his A-Level in painting at the Institute of Artistic Training of Mbalmayo (IAT/IFA). Subsequently, he joined the Institute of Fine Arts Foumban, where he obtained a degree in drawing/painting. In 2017 he joined the Post Master "Moving Frontiers" organized by the National School of Arts of Paris-Cergy (France) on the theme of borders. Beforehand, he flirts with the workshops of the elder artists like Ruth BELINGA, Jean Jacques KANTÉ, Pascal KENFACK, Salifou LINDOU and Hervé YOUMBI. Throughout his training in the fine arts of Foumban, he is the laureate of several artistic distinctions (Notably best sculptor, installer and painter).

He is concerned by the impact of violence, indifference and the passivity of the international community and governments on the situation of victims in the world. Nkot uses the body and the territory as key subjects around which he structures his plastic approach. The use of maps interrogates and brings awareness to the issue of boundaries whilst simultaneously providing a backdrop that shows the seeming insignificance of the individual in such an abstract and depersonalized representation of reality. His intention is to free these “victims of anonymity”, marked by the indifference that characterizes the complicit silence of the world. The use of cartography in his work questions the way the body intertwines with space and above all, the place of the human in society.

Born in Morocco in 1989, Mohamed Said Chair was raised in an art-loving family. At an early age, he was taught basic graphic and painting techniques by his architect mother. As a self taught artist, nothing hindered him from pursuing a professional art career.

After his academic studies, he work at a bank as a financial adviser for 3 years but in the evenings he would dedicate most of his free time to developing new techniques at the studio. He later became a successful entrepreneur but could not resist the call to make art full-time. After taking this leap of faith, he’s been working on developing a consistent art portfolio that is undeniably influenced by his banking & entrepreneurial journey. His artworks reflect, through a contemporary expression and style, a thorough breakdown of the entrepreneurial and consumption-obsessed world.

'Disarticulations' is an exhibition that examines the way in which people are distanced, separated and estranged from their world in contemporary society. The two artists exhibited both use the human form to contextualise how the individual is at once part of, and simultaneously counterposed with their lived environment. Jean-David Nkot demonstrates this by juxtaposing his figures against a cartographical background, showing that the unique and holistic life of a human being is often at odds with the way that governments and corporate power attempt to aggregate and de-individualize our lived experience. Mohamed Said Chair portrays various human stereotypes, tropes and ideals - all with their heads (quite literally) “in a box” - perhaps indicating our own desire for anonymity whilst also implying that we, no matter how unique we might be, are always turned into a commodity or packaged form.

Together these artists engage in a painterly conversation that demands from us a consideration of how we - as distinct persons - fit into a society that increasingly values conformity over uniqueness. We have literally become disarticulated from our surroundings, environment, cultures and most importantly, our fellow members of humanity. The exhibition raises pertinent questions as we reflect on the global changes that have taken place in the first two decades of the millennium and as we head into an uncertain future.