Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your journey in a few words?
I am Joe OKITAWONYA MALANDY originally from Congo and graduated from “l’Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts” in Algiers. In order to define myself, I like to say that I was born twice: biologically in DR Congo and artistically in Algeria. I define myself as a provocative dreamer and the founder of the poingeism.
Why did you choose this job?
The job chose me. My father Pie MALANDY MAWEJA was an architect. I was in a artistic environment from a very young age. When I was old enough to go to college, my destiny was already decided. I went to the Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa and I graduated with a bachelor of art.
As an artist, how would you define yourself?
I’m a poingeist artist. Poingeism is an artistic movement I created in 2010 that takes root in the G-Spot. I consider painting as a woman. I am looking for the G-point in a “woman painting”. Poingeism is also a state of mind (communicate, think, get dressed like a poingeism and be poingeist), which is codified by emotions felt by the artist in order to make it accessible to his audience. It is a sharing of feelings and commitment..
Who influenced you?
I am influenced by the Cubist movement not by Picasso’s Cubist movement the one inside my ancestral culture. Indeed, African art has always been cubic: by its aesthetic approach where the object is not represented as it appears but by codes corresponding to its known reality.
Who influenced you?
I am influenced by the Cubist movement not by Picasso’s Cubist movement the one inside my ancestral culture. Indeed, African art has always been cubic: by its aesthetic approach where the object is not represented as it appears but by codes corresponding to its known reality.
Who are the artists you admire? Who inspired you?
Several artists have inspired me technically and intellectually like Picasso, Amine LABTER, Barly BARUTI, Claudy KHAN, Hamza BOUNOUA and many others …
Did your family supported you in your choice?
Oh yes without question. And the first support I had was my father. My family has always been there for me on my long artistic journey. And I can also rely on my friends.
What do your works reflect? How would you present them ?
My works reflect my thoughts, my commitments which allow me to position myself in relation to the contemporary society. My main thread is the defense of women’s rights because for me woman has an essential role in the development of a country. For centuries, monotheistic religions have always put forward the paternity of God and I believe it is time to talk about the motherhood of God. The fact of having created everything is like having delivered it. My ‘’poingeist’’ philosophy leads me to say that God created woman and that woman has given birth to man.
Where does your inspiration come from? What justifies your creation?
Women are my source of inspiration.
How do you work? What are the stages of your creation?
Before any stage of creation, I put myself in the situation of a man ready to make love to his wife, starting with the preliminaries consisting on making sketches on a blank sheet.
Then, I go to the stage of stretching the canvas on the chassis, which corresponds to the stage of undressing a woman while caressing her body.
And when the canvas is well stretched, I am in a state of excitement of a man facing a naked woman. The blood pressure goes up with the feeling of tension and fear of not satisfying the “woman painting”. The sketch made on the sheet is passed on the canvas and corresponds to the sexual act interspersed with penetrations materialized by colors.
What is the stage you prefer in the realization?
The stage that I like is the penetration and it’s when I make colors sing.
When you start a creation, do you have an acute idea of a desired outcome?
No, it’s always a surprise.
What is your characteristic, your singularity? How would you define your art, your creations?
I love colors and particularly primary colors. I use calligraphy, one of my specificities. The main theme of my paintings is the woman that I represent very often faceless so that all women can identify themselves in my paintings. My art is also in the air of time, very involved in the struggles of our current society.
What is the main work of your creations?
I love all my paintings.Indeed, a father loves all his children without distinction. However, my two leading works that have allowed me to reach another artistic dimension are the fresco of the blue of Mouni and the ‘’Guernica of Joe’’ which are part of the collections of The General Bank Society of Algiers.
Are you in associations, collectives of other artists? If yes, why?
I am engaged in different associations where I live. I am the founder of an African art festival in Lyon: the NGOMA festival. I am also the director of an association in Saint-Etienne « Centre Interculturel Mille et une voix », a citizen project facilitating ‘’the will to live together’’, and an active citizenship of inhabitants, which sometimes has to use art as a tool of expression faced with various pains of daily living. I am also a volunteer in an association called “The Means on Board” in Saint-Etienne where I am sharing my artistic know-how.
What are your current projects?
I am writing three books: the continuation of the Gospel according to Joe, the ‘’pongeist’’ idea in collaboration with renowned artists: Barly BARRUTI and Amine LABTER whom I like affectionately to call the “genius of the North”. A third book: the trial of a pig.
And many others because I am a great dreamer … full of ideas!
