Bodys Isek Kingelez

Kingelez was born the oldest of nine siblings in Kimbembele-Ihunga, Democratic Republic of Congo (what was then the Belgian Congo.){{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/arts/design/bodys-isek-kingelez-review-moma.html|title=Fantastical Cityscapes of Cardboard and Glue at MoMA|first=Roberta|last=Smith|newspaper=The New York Times|date=31 May 2018}} After graduating from secondary school he moved to Kinshasa in 1970.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/everyone-in-new-york-will-be-talking-about-this-artist-soon/2018/05/23/ce665f46-5db5-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html|title=Review - Everyone in New York will be talking about this artist soon|first=Sebastian|last=Smee|date=23 May 2018|via=www.washingtonpost.com}} Until 1977 he studied part-time and supported himself by teaching at a school. He was hired by the National Museum in Kinshasa as an art restorer, particularly in the restoration of African masks, until 1985 where he began to pursue the sculpture-centric practice he would later be known for full time.{{Cite book|title=Making Africa A Continent of Contemporary Design|last1=Kries|first1=Mateo|last2=Klein|first2=Amelie|publisher=Vitra Design Museum|year=2015|isbn=9783931936525|pages=337}}

During his lifetime he did not have a commercial art dealer to represent his work. He died in 2015 as a result of cancer.

File:Kinshasa la belle.jpg]

Kingelez is known primarily for his models of fantastic and utopian cities made of scrap materials like cardboard, paper and plastic; these models depict an idealistic vision of society that contrasts our harsh reality and dually a statement against the widespread construction funded by The World Bank in collaboration with corrupt African regimes.{{Cite book|title=Making Africa A Continent of Contemporary Design|last1=Kries|first1=Mateo|last2=Klein|first2=Amelie|publisher=Vitra Design Museum|year=2015|isbn=9783931936525|pages=337|chapter=Space and Object}} He sought to establish a fairy-tale world in his work that reflected his inner fantasies and ideals he had envisioned for reality that would be open for all to explore;{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/243|title=Projects 59: Architecture as Metaphor|website=The Museum of Modern Art|language=en|access-date=2019-11-06}} as Sarah Suzuki, curator at the Museum of Modern Art New York, has said: Kingelez's work creates "a place of optimism, a place of beauty... That feels very welcome."

File:Kimbembele Ihunga.jpg]

Kingelez has called his art extrêmes maquettes ({{langx|en|extreme models}}),{{cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3889|title=Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams - MoMA|website=www.moma.org}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/06/04/the-utopian-vision-of-bodys-isek-kingelez|title=The Utopian Vision of Bodys Isek Kingelez|magazine= The New Yorker}} and has said about his artistic approach: “I make this most deeply imaginary, meticulous and well considered work with the aim of having more influence over life. As a black artist I must set a good example by receiving the light which pure art, this vital human instrument, kindles for the sake of all. Thanks to my deep hope for a happy tomorrow, I strive to better my quality, and the better becomes the wonderful. I exhibit a mode of expression which fits me like a glove, and I point out that I am another artist.”{{cite web|url=http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?210|title=Bodys Isek Kingelez|last=Haus der Kulturen der Welt|author-link=Haus der Kulturen der Welt|date=May 2003|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027214815/http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?210|archive-date=2007-10-27|access-date=2008-03-29}}

Kingelez created more than 300 models, starting with individual architectural structures. In 1992 he began to assemble entire cities with numerous buildings, avenues, parks, stadiums and monuments. His first model of a city was called Kimbembele-Ihunga after the village where he was born.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSRZqJzG07IC&pg=PA79|title=Ph.d: The Road to Knowledge|author1=Piet Lombaerde|author2=Marc Muylle|publisher=Asp / Vubpress / Upa|year=2010|isbn=978-90-5487-582-6|pages=79–}} He described his process as firstly devising a name for each new project which helped to cultivate ideas and from there he would dive straight into fabrication.{{Cite web|url=http://www.artpapers.org/bodys-isek-kingelez-city-dreams/|title=Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams|last=Wiesenberger|first=Robert|date=2018|website=Art Papers|access-date=6 November 2019}}

Notable works of Kingelez include Ville Fantôme ("Phantom City," 1996) Kin 3ème millénaire ("Kinshasa: Project for the Third Millennium," 1997) and La Ville du Futur ("City of the Future," 2000).{{cite web|url=http://www.caacart.com/html/kingelez_bio_english.html|title=Biography of Body Isek Kingelez|last=Contemporary African Art Collection|access-date=2008-03-29|archive-date=2012-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219194913/http://www.caacart.com/html/kingelez_bio_english.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://caacart.com/pigozzi-artist.php?i=Kingelez-Bodys-Isek&bio=en&m=50|title=Bodys Isek Kingelez - Pigozzi Collection 2017|website=CAACART - The Pigozzi Collection|access-date=2017-05-23|archive-date=2018-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716054132/http://caacart.com/pigozzi-artist.php?i=Kingelez-Bodys-Isek&bio=en&m=50|url-status=dead}}

File:Ville fantome.jpgIn 1989 he was invited to Paris to present his work at the Centre Georges Pompidou in the exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre curated by Jean-Hubert Martin and supported by The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi.

In 2010 he showed his project Ville Fantôme at the Centre Pompidou, Paris in a solo exhibition titled Dreamlands.{{Cite web |date=2015-03-26 |title=BODYS ISEK KINGELEZ (1948–2015) |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/bodys-isek-kingelez-1948-2015-223580/ |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}}

His work was presented in the retrospective exhibition Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams in 2018 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/07/08/619975191/the-joyful-cities-of-bodys-isek-kingelez|title=The Joyful Cities Of Bodys Isek Kingelez|website=NPR|date=8 July 2018|last1=Cole|first1=Diane}}{{cite web|url=https://archpaper.com/2018/07/visionary-paper-cities-artist-bodys-isek-kingelez-moma/#gallery-0-slide-0|title=The visionary paper cities of artist Bodys Isek Kingelez come to life at the MoMA - Archpaper.com|website=archpaper.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13494-bodys-isek-kingelezs-art-insight-at-moma|title=Bodys Isek Kingelez's 'Art inSight' at MoMA|access-date=2018-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716054038/https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13494-bodys-isek-kingelezs-art-insight-at-moma|archive-date=2018-07-16|url-status=dead}} alongside a VR recreation of the Ville Fantôme project created in collaboration with German artist Carsten Höller{{Cite web|url=https://hyperallergic.com/445581/looking-back-at-bodys-isek-kingelezs-future-cities/|title="Looking Back at Bodys Isek Kingelez's Future Cities."|last=Small|first=Zachary|date=24 September 2018|website=hyperallergic.com|access-date=30 October 2019}}

Kingelez's work is in the Jean Pigozzi collection,{{cite web|url=https://africa.si.edu/exhibits/pigozzi/kingelez.html|title=National Museum of African Art - African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection - Bodys Isek Kingelez|website=africa.si.edu}} the Musée International des Arts Modestes (MIAM) collection in Sète, France,{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/2018/05/31/kingelez-moma/#1f0a5e3b7b13|title=This MoMA Exhibit Reveals The African Fantasy Cities Of The Greatest Architect You've Never Seen|first=Jonathon|last=Keats|website=Forbes}} the Cartier Foundation in Paris and the Ludwig Foundation in Cologne.

• {{cite book | last = Kingelez | first = Bodys Isek |author2=Yilmaz Dziewior | title = Bodys Isek Kingelez | publisher = Hatje Cantz | date = September 2001 | isbn = 3-7757-1054-X}}
• {{cite book | last = Serageldin | first = Ismail |author2=Bodys Isek Kingelez | title = Home and the World | publisher = Museum for African Art | date = November 1993 | isbn = 3-7913-1326-6}}
• {{cite book | last = Subiros | first = Pep | title = Africas: The Artist and the City | publisher = Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona | year = 2001 | isbn = 84-95273-86-1}}
• {{cite book | last = Kingelez | first = Bodys Isek |author2=Haus der Kulturen der Welt GmbH | title = Bodys Isek Kingelez Künstler der Welt | publisher = Haus der Kulturen der Welt GmbH and Edition Cantz,Stuttgart | date = 1992 | isbn = 3-89322-307-X}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071027214815/http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?210 Body Isek Kingelez] at [http://www.culturebase.net www.culturebase.net]
• [http://www.caacart.com/html/bodys-isek-kingelez.htm Body Isek Kingelez] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610170229/https://www.caacart.com/html/bodys-isek-kingelez.htm |date=2022-06-10 }} at the Contemporary African Art Collection
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20200702025555/http://www.patrimoniodigitaldelahumanidad.com/bodys-isek-kingelez-el-escultor-que-construia-suenos/ Bodys Isek Kingelez: the sculptor who built dreams (Bodys Isek Kingelez: el escultor que construía sueños)] en [https://web.archive.org/web/20200630194631/http://www.patrimoniodigitaldelahumanidad.com/ Patrimonio Digital de la Humanidad]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingelez, Bodys Isek}}

Category:1948 births

Category:20th-century sculptors

Category:21st-century sculptors

Category:Democratic Republic of the Congo sculptors

Category:2015 deaths

Category:21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people

Category:People from Kinshasa

Category:Deaths from cancer