Kinshasa, October 7th, 2026 (CPA).- The painting “The Triumphant”, by Congolese painter Jean-Paul Nsimba Mika, known as JP Mika, has been presented as an allegory of Chéri Samba’s perseverance and success, its creator told CPA on Wednesday during a visit to his studio.
“I created The Triumphant Chéri Samba because I wanted to pay tribute to an artist who, for me, represents a true force of overcoming challenges,” said JP Mika, stressing that Chéri Samba is not only an important figure in Congolese painting, but also an artist who built his career in a context marked by the need to assert himself and impose his own vision. “The Triumphant” evokes the journey, memory and victory over oneself.
According to him, the work evokes the journey, memory and victory over oneself, showing that behind international recognition lie years of work, sacrifice, perseverance and sometimes solitude. “The triumph I portray is not a gift that fell from the sky: it is the result of tremendous hard work,” he explained.
JP Mika noted that he represented two periods of the same man, with the young Chéri Samba depicted in black and white on the left, and the mature artist, elegant and self-assured, represented in color on the right.
“The young Chéri Samba salutes the man he has become. It is a way of bringing the past and present, the dream and its fulfilment, into dialogue.
Between them, French art curator André Magnin serves as the link,” he said. The painter indicated that the transition from black and white to colour was deliberate, symbolizing the passage from an existence still taking shape to one that has been fully revealed.
In this composition, André Magnin represents a decisive encounter that helped open a new dimension in Chéri Samba’s career. For JP Mika, the term “Triumphant” refers to someone who has gone through hardships without allowing them to define his limits.
Triumph therefore does not refer solely to fame or public recognition, but first and foremost to an inner victory.
“Chéri Samba had to carve his own path through rock. His journey shows that a man can rise from the valley and reach the mountain through hard work, discipline, creativity and perseverance,” he said. The artist also stressed that his choice of hyperrealism enabled him to give the scene an almost photographic dimension, while preserving the freedom of painting.
The clothes, looks, gestures, hands, shoes, glasses, flowers, parquet flooring and colour contrasts all contribute to the narrative of the work. Painted on a canvas measuring 155 by 112 cm, “The Triumphant Chéri Samba” gives considerable importance to details, a dimension JP Mika regards as fundamental to his artistic approach.
“For me, detail is never merely decorative: it can become a bearer of meaning. I like the viewer to be able to discover something even after looking at the work several times,” he added.
Through this work, JP Mika sought to convey a message of perseverance, self-confidence and self-improvement, inviting the public to consider the journey travelled before appreciating the achievement.
He notably mentioned Chéri Samba’s meeting with André Magnin and his participation in the “Magiciens de la Terre” exhibition in Paris in 1989 as important moments in his career, while considering that these stages of recognition had been preceded by considerable work.
Eleven years after its creation, the painter considers “The Triumphant” an important work in his artistic career, as it brings together several concerns that have accompanied him, notably memory, transmission, recognition, the relationship between generations and the artist’s place in society. “I was not simply painting Chéri Samba. I was painting an idea of artistic destiny.
I was portraying a man who encounters his own fulfilment and who, through his journey, in turn becomes a reference for those who come after him,” he concluded.
For JP Mika, “The Triumphant” thus remains a painting of victory, but above all of the conquest of oneself, one’s language, one’s artistic space and, ultimately, the world. ACP/