Van Eyck and Holbein, revisited through wax fabrics and tribal masks: the masterpieces of the West re-appropriated by Africa.
Roberto Pare (b. 1998, Cameroon) is an emerging Cameroonian painter, among the promising voices of the country's new generation. A graduate of the Institut des Beaux-Arts de Foumban, where he obtained a professional diploma in plastic arts, he is defined by his exuberant, hyper-coloured palette. After early work drawn from everyday scenes and fashion poses reworked in his saturated style, he turned to the reinterpretation of the great masterpieces of European painting, from Jan van Eyck to Holbein and Manet, revisited through the inclusion of African elements such as wax print fabrics and tribal masks: an act of re-appropriation that reclaims images now regarded as world heritage. Presented internationally in "Cameroon: Visions and Convergences" (2022) and "New Vision from Old Master" (2025) at Black Liquid Art Gallery, and analysed in the peer-reviewed journal Africa e Mediterraneo, he also exhibits with Mitochondria Gallery, Houston. He lives and works in Cameroon.