M+B is pleased to present Balanced Psychopath, an exhibition of new works by Merveille Kelekele Kelekele. This is the artist’s first solo show with the gallery. The exhibition opens on Thursday, September 14 at Casa MB in Milan, with an opening reception from 7 to 9 pm.
Merveille Kelekele Kelekele's work functions as a journey not just into his own psyche but into a collective consciousness, fusing nightmares and dreams into a rich tapestry of monsters, souls, and creators. His life’s journey, spanning multiple continents and experiences, is encapsulated in the canvases, and often augmented by personal objects like hats and necklaces. Kelekele Kelekele doesn’t just paint; he orchestrates an environment where the viewer becomes an active participant in the unfolding narrative.
Balanced Psychopathnavigates the murky terrains between psychic revelation and label, the eponymous "psychopath" here serving less as diagnosis and more as an explorative epithet, inviting the viewer to interrogate the relationship between label, aura, and identity. Kelekele Kelekele's own words attest to his panoptic gaze—his “eyes see many things, sometimes even more than expected”—and this sensory multitude finds expression through an array of media. This approach feels rooted in his early years in Mbuji Mayi, Congo, where he saw art not as a separate entity but as an intrinsic part of existence, giving shape to buckets and trash cans in the "red sands of Africa."
This exhibition serves as a crucial dialogue on the potency of labels and the nebulous nature of perception, questioning how we come to categorize and understand both others and ourselves. It underscores Kelekele Kelekele's belief in the transcendent qualities of art—as he says, "art is peace." Yet, there is an underlying tension, a dichotomy between the “balanced” and the “psychopath,” reflecting existential engagements with life's highs and lows, with the mundane and the profound. In a world he describes as a "great machine" careening perhaps toward its own undoing, Kelekele Kelekele's work offers a momentary pause, a space for reflection and reorientation. And in that pause, one can't help but wonder if the path to inner peace is through acknowledging, rather than shunning, the psychopath that resides within us all.
