Richmond Téhé

Painting the Gates to our Soul

« Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. »

– André Gide

Ivory Coast. A country of artistic vivaciousness located on the southern coast of West Africa. With a population of almost 32 million people, 69 ethnicities divided in four groups: Akan, Gour, Krou, and Mandé, and 78 languages currently spoken, with the french as the official one, this country also known as « The pearl of West Africa » is a melting pot of abundant traditions and arts. Contemporary Ivorian art begins with the French colonization. It emancipated itself at the beginning of the 1950s thanks to the pan-African awareness driven by the Negritude movement. Some of the pioneers of modern Ivorian art include the sculptor Christian Lattier, the painter Michel Kodjo, who’s works have been shown internationally, mostly in Paris, New York and Frankfurt, as well as the naive painters such as Augustin Kassi, Camille Kouakou and Idrissa Diarra.

It is impossible not to mention Jacques Samir Stenka, an abstract mystic with the rich production of more than 25,000 paintings, some of which have joined the museum collection of the Quai Branly in Paris, and also the first African painter to join the Beaux-Arts of Paris. Another essential personality of contemporary ivorian art is Frédéric Bruly-Bouabré. At the same time a designer, scribe, philosopher and mystical poet, Bouabré is the brilliant inventor of a “poeography”, a pictographic alphabet composed of 448 signs used to transcribe the great mythological stories of the Bété people. Another Ivorian artist inspired by the ethnic culture and the history, this time of the Dan people, is the Germany-based painter of the younger generation Obou (Gbai Obou Yves Fredy), who rises the questions of economic and social issues, through the very particular use of the masks of the Dan tribe.

For the purpose of this interview we have to point out the importance of the Vohou Vohou movement from the 1985s, which opened the door to abstract art with the intention of creating a purely African aesthetic by rejecting expensive equipment imported from France and replacing it with local raw materials, such as cotton fabric, burlap, tree bark, palm fiber, clay as well as plants. The major step however in creating a strong national artistic culture was the founding of the National School of Fine Arts of Abidjan in 1961, directed by the sculptor Marcel Homs. One of the most inspirational artists from the younger generations of graduates of this school is our guest Richmond Téhé, born in Zorofla in 1997 and living in Abidjan.

Richmond Téhé obtained his diploma in Higher Artistic Studies (Master II, Painting option) from the National School of Fine Arts in Abidjan in 2022. He is officially represented by the LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery in Abidjan. His art has been showcased in the third opus of the “Nid d’artistes” (from french: nest of artists), collection initiated by Malika Editions, a tribute to the cultural effervescence of a multidisciplinary and creative city of Abidjan. But before diving in the subject of Art, I wanted to understand Richmond’s view on the culture and art of the Ivory Coast and what is the cultural identity of the country made of. « In Africa, art is attached to the culture, from a very young age we are attached to some sort of artistic expression, like dance for example. In this multi-ethnic country of fast developpement we cherish the culture of peace and joy. An Ivorian is above all a state of mind: someone who thinks, observes, and loves peace », explains Richmond.

« An Ivorian is above all a state of mind: someone who thinks, observes, and loves peace. »

Inspired by those around him, guided by his faith and an unwavering determination, Richmond is someone who works tirelessly, even sleeping in his atelier, surrounded by paintings. His work is characterized by a particular graphic technique of different lines and texture. « Art is also the touch, not just the visual », he points out. In Richmond’s artistic developpement lines were the initial movement, starting with his passion for comics drawing since primary school. Apart from the aesthetic dimension, the lines give the impression of movement in the painting, they suggest perspective and draw the attention to the piercing gaze of Richmond’s portraits.

« Art is also the touch, not just the visual. »

What distinguishes Richmond’s art is also the choice of unusual materials like those of coffee, cocoa or african mats, linked to the culture of Ivory Coast, or various waste materials that he recycles, like plastic tubes that have been cut in more than 5000 small pieces for the creation of the Ivory Coast’s president’s portrait, a capital piece called « Le Bâtisseur » (from french: The Builder). « With this piece I wanted to honor our president Ouattara, raise awareness about the social injustice at the time in Ivory Coast, denounce a rising wave of mediocrity, give my support to educated young people, and include the youth from my, at the time precarious neighborhood in a collaborative project with a strong ecological dimension. This 3 years-long project has been made of between 5000 and 6000 pieces of recycled tubes », explains Richmond.

Richmond’s artistic approach is strongly attached to the respect and preservation of the environment: « The environment is part of our existence, everything is part of an ecosystem. We are nothing without nature. »

« The environment is part of our existence, everything is part of an ecosystem. We are nothing without nature. »

Looking at Richmond’s portraits, we inevitably ask ourselves about the identity of the one looking at us: Who are these individuals? What are they saying? Ricmond replies: « My portraits are psychological representations of life situations, difficulties, remarks, questions that live inside of every individual. The eyes staring at us are the gates to our soul, in which we see the traces of our past and the indications of our future. »

Conscious of the energy that emerges from his portraits, and strongly influences the public, Richmond modestly defines himself as the « channel »: God is in the center of everything he does, his fuel. Although raised in a catholic family, life’s hardships have pushed Richmond in his research of God: « In my family the ideal was to work in an office, I had no encouragement from anyone. My faith has given me the strength to continue in my path of becoming an artist ». For Richmond, there is no possibility to be an artist without diligence and determination. « Work is the starting point of everything », he adds. And Richmond is indeed a visionary artist, with projects for years and years ahead, working and researching relentlessly. He revealed his upcoming project for March 2025, dedicated to the albinism disease, that will combine painting and installations.

« My portraits are psychological representations of life situations, difficulties, remarks, questions that live inside of every individual. The eyes staring at us are the gates to our soul, in which we see the traces of our past and the indications of our future. »

Reflecting the essence of the vibrant African culture, the paintings of Richmond Téhé have nothing to do with sterile visual artifacts hanging in galleries. This is an art that actively communicates with the viewer, flamboyant, and complex in detail and composition. We can almost sense that each portrait has a personal battle to fight in order to emerge in front of us, captured inside a dense, hostile nest of Richmond’s signature tangled lines. This is an art of healing and contemplation, where each pair of eyes invites us to reconnect with our inner selves.

Richmond Tehe is officially represented by the LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery in Abidjan:

https://www.louisimoneguirandou.gallery.com

rue C27 Cocody Mermoz

01 BP 2759, Abidjan 01

Côte d’Ivoire

+225 27 22 54 04 61

Contact:

Instagram: @tehe.richmond

e-mail: Teherichmondtk@gmail.com

jmarie rodrigues

2 months ago

Derrière ce qui semble faire obstacle, des miroirs d’âmes douées de lumière disent, évoquent, …. dialoguent ,

PHILIPPE HALIMI

2 months ago

Mille Merci Ana Malnar .
C est de ma chaise que j ai envie de goute.
ses regards qui effectivement en dis long sur l etre aime dans chaque toile .
l Art de Mr Richmond Tehe pour moi represente aussi un Ensemble d identiques .
Des etres avec passe et futur des etres present surtout ses toile sente bon le Pays Abidjan et franchement cela fais un bien fou cette Paix que Ana nous transmet aussi a travers de se travail remarquable de prensetation de l Artiste qui comme il le dis a l Avenir radieux voir Loin et longtemps se que je souhaite a Mr Richmond quelle Artiste relié a son environnement et ses Humains au regard d espoir qui nous font vivre Amen…………………………………………………………….