Ajarb Bernard Ategwa: Morning Bread & Jazz

Private view Thursday 16 January, 6 - 8 pm.

Jack Bell Gallery is pleased to present a new body of paintings by contemporary artist Ajarb Bernard Ategwa. This will be the artist’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery.

Ategwa lives and works in Douala, Cameroon’s largest city. His hometown has had many foreign influences in the past and more recently an influx of migrants from within the country as well as from neighbouring regions. This has shaped Douala into the vibrant and colourful metropolis that is the source of Ategwa's art. The paintings work as sequences in a larger narrative describing the chaos of his urban surroundings.

Ategwa’s works are large format and mimic the scale of cityscapes and public space. Moving between the taxi stands, newsagents, bars, roadside markets and fleeting moments of respite, the artist offers snapshots of everyday life. His vivid colour palette and graphic style speak the language of advertising familiar to Douala’s inhabitants. 

Ategwa was born in 1988 in Kumba, Cameroon. His work has recently been included in an exhibition at the Cameroon National Museum, curated by Simon Njami. In 2018 he had his first solo show with Peres Projects, Berlin. In 2019 Jack Bell Gallery presented a solo booth of new paintings by Ategwa at the Armory Show, New York.