Joseph Kinkonda, better known by his pen name Chéri Chérin, was a Congolese painter born in 1955 and died in 2025 at the age of 70. He is regarded as one of the most popular contemporary artists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, alongside Chéri Samba and Moké, and his paintings depict everyday Congolese life.
His work is marked by a taste for political satire, which brought him legal trouble during the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko. This critical view of the country's reality made his canvases a lively record of the society of his time, aimed at a broad audience rather than academic circles.
Chérin's legacy rests on this mix of humour, social observation and closeness to Congolese viewers, placing him among the reference points of popular contemporary painting in his country.