Boris Nzebo explores urban life through elaborate hairstyles and vibrant city views. Urban Style, his first solo exhibition in a UK public gallery, presents Nzebo’s large-scale stylised silhouettes of human heads overlaid onto architectural facades and interior spaces in multi-layered scenes. Using intense colours and striking compositions, Nzebo invites us to consider this urban aesthetic – how people can be defined by their hairstyles and express their identity in a city full of urban encounters.
Based in Cameroon, he draws his inspiration from the bright, hand-drawn advertising boards found in Central African beauty parlours, street culture and classic Pop Art aesthetics. The unstructured and animated city environment contrasts with the careful efforts of maintaining individualised and highly intricate hairstyles. Through his paintings Nzebo addresses the complex relationship between individuals and the urban spaces they inhabit.
Manchester Art Gallery
Friday 24 June 2016–Sunday 13 November 2016
Text courtesy of Manchester Art Gallery
