This whimsical contemporary artwork features a simple black-and-white line drawing on a light background. The main element is a boombox-like device, with two large speakers and various dials or knobs. Atop the boombox stands a cartoon-like figure smoking a cigarette, while a stylized smoke plume emerges from the figure. The overall composition conveys a sense of playfulness and youthful rebellion, hinting at themes of music, technology, and counterculture. The artist's distinctive hand-drawn style and the inclusion of surreal, symbolic elements suggest a commentary on the relationship between modern life and personal expression. ...
Kura Shomali’s work is instantly recognizable for its dynamic lines, ink splashes, and vibrant energy, reflecting the bustling, chaotic life of Kinshasa that inspires him at every turn. His practice captures the city’s rhythm and disorder, translating its sounds, movements, and textures into vivid, layered visual compositions. Although he has experimented with video, installations, puppetry, and found materials, Shomali ultimately refined his signature style through drawing. Working primarily on paper, he combines gouache, ink, felt-tip pens, charcoal, and collage, creating pieces with distinctive textures and a lively, expressive quality. His early drawings, made with urgency and immediacy, drew inspiration from the circulation of hand-to-hand magazines and the energetic pulse of the city, embodying Kinshasa’s vibrant megacity life. In recent works, Shomali reinterprets iconic images from African photographers such as Samuel Fosso, Malick Sidibé, and Jean Depara, infusing them with humor and a contemporary perspective. He also continues to create puppets from found objects, animating them in videos to comment on corruption, conflict, and social issues, blending critique with playfulness. Across the media, his work combines spontaneity, satire, and observation to portray the vitality, contradictions, and resilience of contemporary Congolese life. ...
