PAINTINGS ACTIVITIES

Francis Mbella was born in Douala on December 18, 1961, to a father who was an art sculptor and a mother who was a fashion designer.   

He studied at King-Akwa College in Douala, then flew to Paris to continue his secondary studies, which he completed at the Lycée de la Folie-Saint-James in Neuilly-sur-Seine. It is in this establishment that his qualities as a painter will be noticed by his drawing teacher, who strongly suggests the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts  

One year later, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris to study painting and graduated in 1987. He then devoted himself to the search for new forms of expression and became famous that same year as a painter of reliefs, thanks to his revolutionary Tapioca technique: a combination of cassava flour with oil or acrylic, this technique gives relief and real depth to the works. He combines this technique, the technique of inks and colors, a prospective method of objectification of sensations expressed by a work of superposition of surfaces and levels.  

Francis Mbella has had more than 150 exhibitions and conferences around the world including Paris, Moscow, Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Los Angeles, Tampa, Douala, Yaoundé, London, ... 

He wrote 3 books published in 1987, 1988 and 1998.

Francis Mbella is also involved in humanitarian and philanthropy and became a UNESCO Ambassador for Sickle Cell Disease.  

On October 10, 2015, he was distinguished as a Humanist Professor by Pope Francis.  

A retrospective and traveling exhibition between 2016 and 2022 is open to his work.  

In 2014, he entered politics and competed in the European and municipal elections.