Hervé Yamguen

Biography

Visage-fleur, 2025

HERVÉ YAMGUEN WAS BORN IN 1971 IN DOUALA, CAMEROON, WHERE HE LIVES AND WORKS.

A self-taught artist, Hervé Yamguen has developed his expertise over thirty years of eclectic artistic practice, touching on fields such as writing, visual arts, performance and theatrical set design. In 1998, alongside several artists, including Salifou Lindou, he co-founded Cercle Kapsiki, an initiative aimed at integrating art into Douala's urban space through the organization of exhibitions, projects and residencies, inviting artists from all over the world to transform the public space.

Hervé Yamguen's work draws on a deep current of consciousness. His art aims to transcend the everyday, to go beyond tangible reality to explore wider spheres of existence. His bronze sculptures, characterized by hybrid beings combining human, animal and plant forms, question the links within the living world, symbolizing metamorphoses that celebrate a communion between beings. Through his creations, Hervé Yamguen invites the viewer to a contemplation imbued with wonder, revealing the strengths and beauty of existence.

Recently inducted as a notable in his father's village in western Cameroon, Hervé Yamguen revives traditions and rituals while maintaining his perspective as a contemporary artist. This duality between cultural heritage and modern artistic expression marks his work, bridging past and present.

His work has been exhibited around the world, including at the Musée du quai Branly for the exhibition “Sur la route des chefferies du Cameroun” in 2022. In 2016, his sculptures were praised by art critic Philippe Dagen in Le Monde while exhibited at AKAA art fair in Paris, underlining the international recognition of his talent and work. From 2023 onwards, Hervé Yamguen’s work was exhibited at international fairs such as 1-54 in London (UK) and Marrakech (Morocco), and artgenève (Switzerland). In February 2024, his first solo exhibition in Europe was held at the AFIKARIS gallery, embodying thirty years of artistic practice.

Several of his works (paintings, sculptures and drawings) have recently joined the collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and will be part of its upcoming group exhibition Terraphilia from July to September 2025.

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Works