Erling Haaland and Cristiano Ronaldo can be seen on the streets of Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast) during the Africa Cup of Nations, or at least their likenesses painted on the double rear doors of the “massas,” the small passenger trucks highly appreciated for their decorative work. “I was supposed to put two stars (on the jersey), but I’m going to put three stars because the cup is ours,” laughs Lopoa Kouassi Bi while putting the finishing touches on the portrait of Gervinho, a former Ivory Coast star, on the back of one of these trucks.
The Elephants dream of securing their third star in this home edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), ahead of an eighth-final clash with the current champion Senegal on Monday in Yamoussoukro. The portrait of the 2015 African champion, drawn by “LK,” an artistic name, is “truly magnificent,” enthuses the work’s commissioner, Sip Tchera, the driver of the van that will now be called Gervinho.
“I encourage him to keep it up; he takes his work seriously; it’s very beautiful,” continues the driver wearing the same orange jersey with a green stripe on the shoulders as in the drawing. “It’s just decoration, but it attracts customers,” says Sip Tchera, wearing sunglasses. “All passengers like to get into something that is beautiful and comfortable. And then, with decoration, it becomes even more beautiful.”
“When I finish a portrait, it’s like my baby,” smiles LK. In his studio, near one of the artificial lakes of Ivory Coast’s capital, with an uninterrupted view of the majestic basilica of Notre-Dame de la Paix, the car decorator – as he calls himself – worked on Gervinho.
With the mobile phone in hand and the portrait on the screen, Lopoa Kouassi Bi (39 years old) began by drawing the image in red pen, using the grid technique. Then, “we draw in pencil and start painting the different colors,” he explains, starting with the Ivory Coast’s orange jersey.
With skill, he uses a spray gun to draw the white elephant with its trunk raised on the national team’s coat of arms. The artist, trained in calligraphy, left his mark on shop signs. He explains that he earns an average of 30,000 CFA francs (45 euros) per decoration, for two and a half hours of work. He says he decorates “two to three masses a day.”
Painters like him are in high demand. “In the sub-region, they come here to do a lot of decoration,” he explains. “The proof is that there are even cars that come from Mali or Burkina Faso to be made more attractive and then go back home.”
“There is a lot of demand: these images change the car,” says LK. “When there’s an image behind, the driver feels motivated. Because, often, it’s the driver who decides to put this or that person in the car. As a result, it becomes something that has value for him.”
Portraits of this kind are found all over Ivory Coast. There are about 8000 in Abidjan, the economic capital. “I’ve been driving the truck for 10 years, and I really like the players’ past. I really like football,” smiles Moussa Dabila, the driver of a truck with the effigy of Ivorian Wilfried Zaha.
Not only footballers but also religious figures, musicians, Jack Bauer, the hero of the series 24 heures Chrono, and even… the leader of Russia. “People often ask me to draw Putin, for example, and I’ve drawn him several times. It makes people laugh a little,” says LK.
Frédéric Kaan, a passenger wearing a Chicago Bulls basketball jersey, would like “all the vans to be well decorated; it brings joy to the heart. From now on, when I travel, I choose a truck that is well decorated.”
