Jeremy Demester

Born in 1988 in Digne, France, he lives and works in Ouidah, Benin.

As a descendant of the wandering ancestry of the Romani community, Demester draws from a wide variety of cultures and traditions within his oeuvre. Based in Benin since 2015, Demester gives a central place to intuition in his work, which is influenced by alternate ways of connecting to the world through the power of magic, rituals and dance.

Drawing on the rich folklore, oral history, mystics and mythology of Benin culture, Demester explores the imaginative forces that bind Vodun societies and travelling peoples in his vibrant paintings, esoteric sculptures and intricate works on paper. Frequently executed in vivid layers of paint – at times free-flowing and gestural, at others meticulously rendered – his work speaks to the dreamy, expressive landscapes of the spiritual world.

Graduated from les Beaux-Arts in Paris with congratulations of the jury, he received the Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts in 2015. His work has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions across the world. As part of the exhibition “Peindre la nuit” at the Centre Pompidou Metz, and the “Nocturne #2 Sacred Night”, he was invited in 2018 to create a scenic work with the CCN – Ballet de Lorraine.

His works are included in the collections of the Zinsou Foundation, Benin; Istanbul Modern; the Rennie Museum, Vancouver; the Musee d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Saint-Etienne Metropole; Patrimoine Hennessy, Cognac; and numerous private collections. He chairs the Atoké on-profit organisation founded in 2019 with his wife Marie-Sophie Eiché-Demester, supporting an orphanage of 39 children in Benin. Atoké helps these children grow up with dignity by providing them with care, education, health and legal assistance.