Hervé Yamguen

Hervé Yamguen (born 1971 in Douala) is a Cameroonian painter and sculptor working in New Bell. A self-taught artist, he launched himself in painting, sculpture and he discovered a passion for the writing which enables him to wonder about its daily live. He currently works on plays.

Works

Yamguen was born into a family that valued tradition, and they initially refused to accept his choice to become an artist. From childhood, he was attracted to the way in which artists interpreted their own realities in their works, and has said that "being an artist is a way of existing in the world and is closely associated with spirituality". He started painting at the age of 17 and became a professional artist by the late 1980s after refusing to enter the monastery. Afterwards, his family supported his artistic pursuits. He has done many study and production residencies in Cameroon and abroad.

Yamguen is also known for his writings about the visual arts (drawing, painting, sculpture), as well as his poetry. he tells the story of humans and invites one to look at life with wonder; the small details of daily life that represent the beauty of the world and make life more pleasurable. Yamguen is inspired by the work (technical, power of the work, style) of several writers and artists who work on wonder, whimsy and imagination: Matisse, Picasso, Henri Michaux, and the Surrealist poets. The artist wants to invite the public to reflect on his humanity in order to become better. According to him, the reception of his work is not enthusiastic: either it is too risqué or inaccessible.

Hervé Yamguen is one of the members of the Cercle Kapsiki, a collective consisting of Yamguen and several other Cameroonian artists. As a member of the Cercle, he took part in Scénographies Urbaines, (Urban Scenographies) in January 2003, an event and artist residency organized by the collective. The project was based out of the New Bell neighborhood of Douala where Yanguen resides, and aimed to help artists express themselves and engage in an exchange with the inhabitants of the district. The workshop also involved Cercle Kapsiki (Hervé Youmbi, Hervé Yamguen, Blaise Bang, Salifou Lindou, Jules Wokam) collaborating with the Scur' k collective (J-C Lanquetin, François Duconseille) inviting other artists from Cameroon, France, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Lebanon, to come together and share details of their lives with the district's population.

In 2003, Yamguen exhibited work at the Galerie Mam Art Contemporain within the framework of the project Pièce Unique, initiated by the French Cultural Center of Douala. Schemell, A. (2015): Visual Arts in Cameroon– A Genealogy of Non-formal Training 1976–2014, Langaa Research &Publishing Common Initiative, p. 137 Manga, L. (2014). Cameroon une vision contemporaine IV. Le Bureau de la Banque Mondial. Africultures, Hervé Yamguen. Langaa Research &Publishing Common Initiative, p. 137 Lessing, E.B. (2015): Urban Safety and Security. FrancoAngeli, p. 73. Les Franco phonies en Limousin (2014): Hervé Yamguen. IAM – Intense Art Magazine. (2014). Hervé Yamguen, un esprit libre in IAM#01 CAMEROUN | CAMEROON, p. 062. Pensa, Iolanda (Ed.) 2017. Public Art in Africa. Art et transformations urbaines à Douala /// Art and Urban Transformations in Douala. Genève: Metis Presses.