Jack Kabangu: “borgerkrigen (The Civil War)”

The external world and the daily surroundings that make up human interaction and psychological connections heavily inspires the artist’s oeuvre and impacts the motifs and themes featured throughout this new series of works. Energy is a visceral quality that radiates within the paintings, and it is this emotive quality that the artist wishes to communicate to a greater audience. Energy is a shared emotion and by the physical act of painting Kabangu is able to thoroughly connect with his subject matter.

A self-taught artist, his visual language is a combination of his African cultural roots complimented with his Danish sensibility. Within the paintings light and shadows harmonize amidst a vibrant colour palette that emphasizes the solitude of the figures inhabiting each composition: they are a master of their own universe. The external landscape is a visual play of the internal psychosis that makes up the figures shown in each work. For Kabangu this connection is primal and goes back to the origins of mankind—energy is the essence of breath, body, and daily interactions.