Ludovic Nkoth's guest appearances

Ludovic Nkoth

Artist Decoded by Yoshino

Sound & Vision

Cerebral Women Art Talks Podcast

Lets ManiFeast

Ron Hicks

Michelle Groskopf

Tobias Schliessler

Aisha Schliessler

Jesse Draxler

Steve Kim

Virginie Picot

John Wentz

David Kassan

Eddie Bravo

Cory Allen

Matthew Ryan

Noah Lampert

Martin Wittfooth

Tunde Adebimpe

OwlTail

Ludovic Nkoth is a painter based in New York. Born in Cameroon in 1994, he moved with his family to Spartanburg, North Carolina, when he was 13 years old. After completing his undergraduate studies at UNC, he moved to New York to attend Hunter College's MFA program, which he finished in 2021. Last year, Nkoth was awarded a prestigious residency through the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he is currently living. Among the key comparisons for Nkoth’s work are Kerry James Marshall, who similarly taps into art history to enliven present-day subjects; Noah Davis, whose work is also sophisticated and subtle; and Alex Katz, who maintained a long career and a unique sense of artistic vision amid rapidly changing fashions.

Ep.116 features Cameroon-born artist Ludovic Nkoth. For him, displacement and deferral occupy a familiar place at the margins of the stories he tells. With swirled and meandering brushstrokes, Nkoth’s practice in figurative painting broaches the ongoing negotiation of transatlantic migration--a direct rumination on diaspora history and on his own expatriation to the US at the age of 13. Melding Cameroonian aesthetic motifs and vivid coloration with postcolonial allegory, Nkoth explores the formation and fragmentation of identity. Throughout his work, Nkoth’s figures participate in the fictions and lived experiences that comprise his own identity synthesis; each muddled expression and porous boundary imbues his paintings with the tender incandescence of a distant memory. The navigation of both belonging and outsider hood in African and American spaces underscores much of Nkoth’s work, and informs the future building of kinship, solidarity, and self-determination that is central to his practice. Ludovic Nkoth was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon in 1994, and lives and works in New York City. Nkoth completed his BFA at the University of South Carolina and holds an MFA in painting from Hunter College. Recent solo exhibitions include Transferred Memories (Work No Dey) (2022) at Massimo de Carlo Gallery in London, and Don’t Take This Too (2021) at François Ghebaly in Los Angeles. Nkoth was featured in the group exhibition Fire, Figure Fantasy (2022) at ICA Museum in Miami, as well as in group exhibitions at Ross+Kramer, New York and Jeffrey Deitch, LA. His work is held in the collection of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the ICA Museum in Miami.  Photo Credit: Mara PochArtist website https://www.lnkoth.com/Massimo de Carlos MASSIMODECARLO Luce Gallery Installation Views Ludovic Nkoth You Sea Us 168 1 Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea a Torino Luce GalleryFrancois Ghebaly Gallery - LA Don’t Take This Too  –  François Ghebaly Gallery, LA 2021 PAFA https://www.pafa.org/events/ludovic-nkoth-031622 Go Upstate https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/local/2022/05/19/dorman-high-grad-ludovic-nkoth-artwork-global-following-usc-upstate-high-museum-atlanta/7131341001/ Juxtapoz  https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/features/ludovic-nkoth-a-dear-statement-to-the-soul/ Ross Kramer https://rkgallery.com/artist/ludovic-nkothArt of choice https://www.artofchoice.co/converse-with-the-expressive-style-of-ludovic-nkoth/Christies https://www.christies.com/features/9-intriguing-portraits-of-family-members-10998-1.aspxSuperposition Gallery  http://superpositiongallery.com/conversations/2020/4/11/interview-with-ludovic-nkothFrancois Ghebaly http://ghebaly.com/work/ludovic-nkoth-dont-take-this-too/

Ep.116 features Cameroon-born artist Ludovic Nkoth. For him, displacement and deferral occupy a familiar place at the margins of the stories he tells. With swirled and meandering brushstrokes, Nkoth’s practice in figurative painting broaches the ongoing negotiation of transatlantic migration--a direct rumination on diaspora history and on his own expatriation to the US at the age of 13. Melding Cameroonian aesthetic motifs and vivid coloration with postcolonial allegory, Nkoth explores the formation and fragmentation of identity. Throughout his work, Nkoth’s figures participate in the fictions and lived experiences that comprise his own identity synthesis; each muddled expression and porous boundary imbues his paintings with the tender incandescence of a distant memory. The navigation of both belonging and outsider hood in African and American spaces underscores much of Nkoth’s work, and informs the future building of kinship, solidarity, and self-determination that is central to his practice. Ludovic Nkoth was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon in 1994, and lives and works in New York City. Nkoth completed his BFA at the University of South Carolina and holds an MFA in painting from Hunter College. Recent solo exhibitions include Transferred Memories (Work No Dey) (2022) at Massimo de Carlo Gallery in London, and Don’t Take This Too (2021) at François Ghebaly in Los Angeles. Nkoth was featured in the group exhibition Fire, Figure Fantasy (2022) at ICA Museum in Miami, as well as in group exhibitions at Ross+Kramer, New York and Jeffrey Deitch, LA. His work is held in the collection of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the ICA Museum in Miami.   Photo Credit: Mara Poch Artist website <a href="https://www.lnkoth.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.lnkoth.com/</a> Massimo de Carlos MASSIMODECARLO Luce Gallery Installation Views Ludovic Nkoth You Sea Us 168 1 Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea a Torino Luce Gallery Francois Ghebaly Gallery - LA Don’t Take This Too  – François Ghebaly Gallery, LA 2021  PAFA <a href="https://www.pafa.org/events/ludovic-nkoth-031622" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.pafa.org/events/ludovic-nkoth-031622</a>   Go Upstate <a href="https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/local/2022/05/19/dorman-high-grad-ludovic-nkoth-artwork-global-following-usc-upstate-high-museum-atlanta/7131341001/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/local/2022/05/19/dorman-high-grad-ludovic-nkoth-artwork-global-following-usc-upstate-high-museum-atlanta/7131341001/</a>  Juxtapoz  <a href="https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/features/ludovic-nkoth-a-dear-statement-to-the-soul/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/features/ludovic-nkoth-a-dear-statement-to-the-soul/</a>  Ross Kramer <a href="https://rkgallery.com/artist/ludovic-nkoth" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://rkgallery.com/artist/ludovic-nkoth</a> Art of choice <a href="https://www.artofchoice.co/converse-with-the-expressive-style-of-ludovic-nkoth/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.artofchoice.co/converse-with-the-expressive-style-of-ludovic-nkoth/</a> Christies <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/9-intriguing-portraits-of-family-members-10998-1.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.christies.com/features/9-intriguing-portraits-of-family-members-10998-1.aspx</a> Superposition Gallery  <a href="http://superpositiongallery.com/conversations/2020/4/11/interview-with-ludovic-nkoth" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://superpositiongallery.com/conversations/2020/4/11/interview-with-ludovic-nkoth</a> Francois Ghebaly <a href="http://ghebaly.com/work/ludovic-nkoth-dont-take-this-too/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://ghebaly.com/work/ludovic-nkoth-dont-take-this-too/</a>

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded About Ludovic: On October 16, 1994, Ludovic Nkoth (LNkoth) was born in Cameroon, West Africa. Growing up in African, Ludovic learned to express himself creatively at a very young age. Through his vibrant use of color and ability to capture life through a distinct lens, Ludovic’s past time was consumed with rough sketches of the beautiful cities of Cameroon. Ludovic’s work is heavily informed by the events in his life which led him to move, as a young boy of 13 years old, from his native Cameroon to the United States. Leaving his birth-mother and family, the young man found solace and comfort in the creative process while being raised primarily as a stranger in a strange land. It wasn’t until he migrated to the united states that he began to reconsider his own culture as a catalyst to locate his identity. For Ludovic, who learned to speak English as a teenager in a world completely alien to him, still – at times – finds himself displaced in his adopted country. In the states, he is viewed as an African, but in Africa, he is viewed American – leaving the passionate young artist in a sort of ambiguous and cyclical displacement of identity. Given the contentious issues of identity, patriotism, Confederate ideologies and racial bias growing in the States at the time of this writing, the paintings and his perspective seem of increasing relevance.  As such, the work presents a complex but highly personal investigation of a very personalized view of Africa; his family history; and the cultures, traditions, and ideas of Africa and its diaspora pre-and post-colonialism. They are approached with a type of naive brusqueness, an immediacy and boldness of colour that suggests both a passion and sense of discovery. African symbols such as masks, patterns, and other symbols of identity and culture remain consistent throughout. He states that through creation, the works attempt to “regain the things that were taking away from [his] people. Things such as power, culture, the idea of self and the idea of being black and proud.” Topics Discussed In This Episode:  Film by Werner Herzog “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” The origins of creativity Growing up in Cameroon and moving to the US at the age of 13 Meeting artist Kerry James Marshall Identity The civil war in his native country of Cameroon Loving one’s self Understanding traditional “voodoo” practices in Africa versus the demonization of “voodoo” by European settlers Comparing the historical colonization patterns of the United States and Africa The importance of preserving Cameroonian tradition Clarity through the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine Political structures in Cameroon  www.artistdecoded.com www.lnkoth.com

<a href="https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded</a> About Ludovic: On October 16, 1994, Ludovic Nkoth (LNkoth) was born in Cameroon, West Africa. Growing up in African, Ludovic learned to express himself creatively at a very young age. Through his vibrant use of color and ability to capture life through a distinct lens, Ludovic’s past time was consumed with rough sketches of the beautiful cities of Cameroon. Ludovic’s work is heavily informed by the events in his life which led him to move, as a young boy of 13 years old, from his native Cameroon to the United States. Leaving his birth-mother and family, the young man found solace and comfort in the creative process while being raised primarily as a stranger in a strange land. It wasn’t until he migrated to the united states that he began to reconsider his own culture as a catalyst to locate his identity. For Ludovic, who learned to speak English as a teenager in a world completely alien to him, still – at times – finds himself displaced in his adopted country. In the states, he is viewed as an African, but in Africa, he is viewed American – leaving the passionate young artist in a sort of ambiguous and cyclical displacement of identity. Given the contentious issues of identity, patriotism, Confederate ideologies and racial bias growing in the States at the time of this writing, the paintings and his perspective seem of increasing relevance. As such, the work presents a complex but highly personal investigation of a very personalized view of Africa; his family history; and the cultures, traditions, and ideas of Africa and its diaspora pre-and post-colonialism. They are approached with a type of naive brusqueness, an immediacy and boldness of colour that suggests both a passion and sense of discovery. African symbols such as masks, patterns, and other symbols of identity and culture remain consistent throughout. He states that through creation, the works attempt to “regain the things that were taking away from [his] people. Things such as power, culture, the idea of self and the idea of being black and proud.” Topics Discussed In This Episode: <ul> <li>Film by Werner Herzog “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”</li> <li>The origins of creativity</li> <li>Growing up in Cameroon and moving to the US at the age of 13</li> <li>Meeting artist Kerry James Marshall</li> <li>Identity</li> <li>The civil war in his native country of Cameroon</li> <li>Loving one’s self</li> <li>Understanding traditional “voodoo” practices in Africa versus the demonization of “voodoo” by European settlers</li> <li>Comparing the historical colonization patterns of the United States and Africa</li> <li>The importance of preserving Cameroonian tradition</li> <li>Clarity through the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine</li> <li>Political structures in Cameroon</li> </ul> <a href="https://artistdecoded.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.artistdecoded.com</a> <a href="https://www.davidcheifetz.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.lnkoth.com</a>

On Identity And Representation with Ludovic Nkoth | AD 161