Marcel Gotene, Poto-poto Brazzaville

Very beautiful work of this Artist, the subject is a tam-tam player, extraordinary colors, signed, Untitled Dimension 40x32 with 54x46 frame Marcel Gotène abandons the school benches to devote himself to his passion, drawing. Self-taught, he began his long apprenticeship in pictorial art by using pieces of charcoal as a brush and as a color. This led him to integrate, in 1951, the year of its creation, an artistic structure founded and directed by Pierre Lods, nephew of Jean Lods. This structure will become famous under the name of School of Poto-Poto4,5. Gotène rubbed shoulders with artists such as Jacques Zigoma, François Thango and Bonguila and developed his own artistic style. It "ensures that harmony is maintained between the mineral and the plant, the animal and the human, which can go as far as osmosis". In his paintings, he links the various forms of life by biomorphic analogy, with the aim of achieving the trilogy “peace – love – joy”. We note the omnipresence of the “all-seeing eye”, symbolized by circles or ovals; this “eye” inviting the spectator to explore his living environment, through the twists and turns of life6. Thus, beyond an a priori decorative function, there is always a sociological, political, religious or mystical message hiding. Marcel Gotène died prematurely a few years ago more precisely on February 19, 2013 in Rabat (Morocco), but his work is more present than ever as evidenced by the growing interest shown in it by experts. Perceived today as Pablo Picasso or Raoul Dufy of Africa, he deserves that we look better than we have done so far on his work, but also on his personal history.