Bodo is one of the founders and key proponents with Moke and Chéri Samba of what has come to be known as the Zaïre school of popular painting. Their works state vigorously and candidly their belief in their capacity to create art that could change the course of history. Bodo chooses to paint anything and describe everything that he has seen and experienced. His works then successively became chronicles, pamphlets, manifestos, demands or advice. His objectives are not selfish: he is a popular painter. One of his main themes was the “Ndoki Zoba” (sorcery) and the aim of these paintings was to advise abandoning the practice of sorcery. In 1980, he converted to Christianity, and joined the Pentecostal church. He became one of the most impassioned pastors of “world evangelism,” and was convinced that it would change his life.

In the early 1990s, he improved his style considerably so as to be able “to express my major personal ideas and have more impact. My goals being: the improvement of life, and of visible things, and to share my dreams of a better world.” Thereafter he dealt with symbolic or fantasy subject matter, with a strange imagination that was fed by his dreams. “I express everything that happens to me, so that I am no longer focused on specifically African topics and can address myself to the entire world.” The titles of his works: River of Delights, Ignorance, or Love, the Source of Life, perfectly echo his beliefs and his aesthetic aims.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2000
Bodo, peintre congolais
Hôtel Sponeck
Montbéliard - France

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2005
Arts of Africa
Grimaldi Forum
Monaco - France

2005
African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Museum of Fine Art Houston
Houston - USA

2004
Les Afriques
Tri Postal
Lille - France

2003
Kin Moto na Bruxelles
Hôtel de Ville
Brussels – Belgium

2003
Kin moto na Posada
Posada Art Books
Brussels - Belgium

2002
Galerie Marc Dengis
Brussels – Belgium

2001
La Cité dans la Peinture Populaire.
Wallonie-Bruxelles Center.
Cultural Center Ku Ntwala (IPN), Belgium.

1996
Bomoi Mobimba -Toute la Vie
Fine Art Palace.
Charleroi, France.

1995
Carte Blanche
Lucien Binelli Gallery.
Bruxelles, Belgium.
Cirque Divers Gallery.
Liege, Belgium.

1993
Bonne Année
Lucien Binelli Gallery.
Bruxelles, Belgium.

1985
Peintres Populaires du Zaïre, l'Art Vivant d'Afrique Centrale
University of Montreal, Canada.
Trompe-l'œil Gallery, Quebec.

1982
Sura Dji
Visages et Racines du Zaïre RDC
Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris.

1981-1980
Cultural French Center.
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

1979
Modern Kunst aus Africa
" Horizante " 79.
I. Festival der Weltkulturen
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin.
Bremen, Stockholm, Erlangen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London.

1978
Art Partout/Art Everywhere
Fine Arts Academy CIAF.
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2005
African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Merrell.

2003
Kin moto na Bruxelles
Exhibition Catalogue. Edited by Bruxelles-Musées-Expositions. Published by Ville de Bruxelles. P. 103 – 113.

2003
Editions de l’Oeil
« Les carnets de la création : R. D. Congo ». Text by Joseph Ibongo Gilungula.
l'Oeil Editions, 2003. Pg 24.

2002
Titouan Congo Kinshasa
Titouan Lamazou, Paris, Gallimard.

1996
Bomoi Mobimba -Toute la Vie.
Exhibition catalogue Bodo p.33-83.
Fine Arts Palace.
Charleroi, France.