May 4, 2025
Highs and Lows, 2020, 🎨 by Anjel (Boris Anje)
seen from Malaysia
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seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
Highs and Lows, 2020, 🎨 by Anjel (Boris Anje)
Anjel / Boris Anje (Cam. 1993)
Restoration (2024)
Acrylic and silk screen print on canvas (140 x 115 cm)
ARTIST: Boris Anje
By Boris Anje
Anjel (Boris Anje) (Cameroonian, b. 1993), Ego or sacrifice?, 2019. Acrylic and posca pens on canvas, 160 x 140 cm.
Afropolitans - duo show "ANJEL/REWA" (2022)
Boris Anje, “Black is the Color of Gold.”
Opening on Saturday, November 13th, 2021 at Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles, California is artist Boris Anje’s solo exhibition, “Black is the Color of Gold.”
By placing his subjects against contrasting heavily logo-ed backgrounds, Anje reveals their sartorial elegance and pride, while drawing attention to the pervasive influence of consumer culture. His work toes the line between societal issues including race, identity, and consumerism. Paying special attention to depicting compelling portraiture from different generations, Anje’s work creates an unspoken dialogue between the subject and viewer.
“In these paintings, I portray joys, fears, emotions, and happenings to situate the viewer in the same realm as my subjects, who are painted in logo-ed atmospheres of brilliant colors. These brands are repurposed as devices of pride, of protection, of projection, and in a way, a level of armor. They serve as a membrane between what the subjects feel and what they’re trying to project out into the world.”
Using the garment as a device of storytelling, Anje channels, first and foremost, pride from his subjects. The pop culture influence is undeniable, adding layers to the paintings beyond physical realism that pull viewers in.
A recent new addition to Anje’s work is his use of symbols from the Adinkra alphabet, which is a contemporary way of writing some of the languages spoken in Ghana and Ivory Coast, including Akan, Dagbani, Ewe and Ga. The Adinkra symbols are sometimes utilized in the logo designs of entrepreneurial brands, where the symbols are used to represent sayings, proverbs or concepts, such as wisdom, strength, unity, wealth, love and peace.
“I want to give value to the black body,” Anjel declared from his studio in the Cameroon coastal city of Douala. “I’m trying to give some kind of attention, some kind of attraction, to the person of color.”
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Boris Anje Tabufor — Weston (acrylic & posca on canvas, 2018)