This week in Accra – our top 10 events

The hugely respected Ghanaian artist Ablade Glover established this renowned arts venue, which has become one of the most important of its kind in Ghana. There are three expansive floors of art displayed in cool marble galleries. Some are by established artists, such as Owusu Ankomah and George Hughes, whose paintings are reminiscent of Jean Michel Basquiat and Willem De Kooning, while others are by new and upcoming artists like Ebenezer Borlabie. Market, rural and urban scenes are interspersed with political satires – and naturally, there are also the shrouded figures and staccatoed crowd scenes by Glover himself. There are collectors’ pieces too: Asafo flags with appliquéd and embroidered symbols; ancient strip-woven Kente cloths by the Akan and Ewe; African masks of the type that inspired Picasso; and intricately carved furniture. Also on show are full-sized coffins in the shapes of crabs, running shoes and eagles. Everything is for sale. There’s a lovely pool out the back. 

Loom’s Frances Ademola has a popular gallery that exhibits paintings and sculptures by a good selection of Ghana’s foremost artists, with a smattering of expressive Nigerian pieces. The modest space has been here since 1969, and is bursting at the seams with the work of nearly 100 artists. If Ademola is around, she’s delightful company, chatting exuberantly about artists such as Seth and Serge Clottey and Gabriel Eklou, and happily offering her great knowledge of the Ghanaian art scene, past and present. Loom is regarded as one of Ghana’s premier galleries.

Along the seafront near Black Star Square is the Arts Centre. Hawkers attack from all sides as soon as you arrive, but if you’re not exhausted by the scrum you can find carvings, baskets, drums, bags, beads, fabrics, sandals, sculptures, stools, rugs and occasionally antiques. It’s a place to unearth some incredible finds and gifts. The best bet is to head past the hassle which you’ll inevitably encounter at the entrance and make your way towards the back of the complex, where it’s a bit more relaxed. Haggling is expected. There’s also an art gallery, which sells prints and paintings at reasonable prices.

The opening dates and gallery locations for Wiz Edinam Kudowor’s first major retrospective in Accra, has been announced. The collection is made up of more than 50 powerful paintings and other assorted works that have never been displayed in the public domain. After a series of discussions and curatorial advice, it was decided to stage a multiple-location exhibition due to the expansive nature of the collection. The collection spans a period of 40 years including works from Wiz’ high school days from the early 1970s. The works include figure drawing, portraiture, still life, architectural designs, fabric designs and his well-known signature style of figurative abstraction with influences of African masks, geometric patterns and esoteric symbolism. The medium range from pastel, acrylic, charcoal, collage, appliqué and watercolour. The exhibition opens at Ano Gallery on Friday, 16th March and follows through with subsequent openings on 20th and 22nd at Berj Gallery and Artists Alliance Gallery respectively. This retrospective will reestablish Wiz Kudowor as a powerful force to reckon with in the vibrant Ghanaian art scene. Sela Adjei will be the lead Curator for the Exhibition. Curatorial advisors for the exhibition are Prof. Ablade Glover and Nana Oforiatta Ayim. Follow AnoGhana, Grin Studios, Berj Gallery and Artists Alliance Gallery for further details.

African art is a good investment. New World Map by El Anatsui, a Ghanaian artist recently appointed as the first African Royal Academician, sold in 2012 for £541,250, a record for contemporary African art. The works of the late Nigerian painter are also fetching hundreds of thousands, while Ghana’s Ablade Glover, who had a recent solo retrospective at the October Gallery in London, has long gained acclaim internationally. And of course, Ghana’s now famous “coffin art” has understandably captured attention throughout the world; works can be seen in the British Museum in London Yet locally, the art scene is only just beginning to get off the ground. This has been disappointing to some, although others have seen it as an opportunity – quality is getting better all the time. If you’re looking to purchase, aim for those works that aren’t mere copycats. Commercial galleries in Accra are great places to pick up quality art at a decent price. One new gallery, which also offers a “consultation service”, is Tiga African Art – it’s a good place to buy paintings and, not so commonly, sculptures. Loom Gallery owner Frances Ademola, doyenne of Accra’s art scene for decades, has been spotting emerging artists in Ghana for more than 40 years. She cites Gabriel Eklou, Gordon Amponsah, Seth Clottey and his eldest son Serge Clottey as the artists to watch out for. Samuel Agbenyegah (also known as Samkobee) is also a young and highly-regarded artist. “He came to me when he was 12 with two...

Gallery 1957 is one of the most exciting new gallery openings in the last decade. The 140sqm space, named after the year Ghana gained independence, is housed in the beautiful new Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City and has a curatorial focus on contemporary Ghanaian art presenting a programme of exhibitions, installations and performances by the country’s most significant artists under the creative direction of Nana Oforiatta Ayim. The gallery has evolved from over 15 years of private collecting by Marwan Zakhem, Managing Director of Zakhem, whose projects in Africa include the Kempinski. He said: "I first started collecting contemporary art when I moved to Africa. The work I encountered in Senegal and Ghana had a real aesthetic power to it while reflecting the society of our time. Many of the artists the gallery is working with are increasingly gaining a presence internationally in museums and biennales, but opportunities to reach new audiences at home are limited due to the lack of existing art infrastructure here. There is an abundance of talented artists from West Africa who is deserving of increased visibility." Find out more at http://www.gallery1957.com/

The Foundation for Contemporary Art at the WEB du Bois Centre (a research centre for Pan-African history and culture, named after African-American civil rights activist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois) was set up by Joe Nkrumah, formerly of the National Museum, and Australian artist Virginia Ryan. It exhibits work by up-and-coming artists in interesting ways, such as its Art in the Garden projects. Its growing library, now with more than 800 books about visual arts, is one of the organisation’s most important projects. It’s also developing a debating forum and a public database of artists, organisations, galleries and patrons. There’s a wide range of information on its website.

Time Out: Your use of pesewa coins has become your artistic calling card of sorts. Were there any other materials that came as a close second? Yaw Owusu: At the beginning I mostly painted, but I have always been interested in the processes of transformation, and as such, started experimenting with reactions between other materials like aluminum and steel.   T O: The treatment the coins undergo to change colour is complex. Was it a period of trial and error to achieve your desired result, or did you sincerely have to learn some chemistry? Y.O: My encounter with these treatment outcomes was initially by chance – when some coins had contact with seawater during a project at the beach in Cape Coast. However, my little senior high school background in chemistry contributed enormously to the freedom to experiment with several elements and conditions, and I must admit I had no specific idea of what the reactions and activities could yield; I still don’t try to guess what might happen (even though some might be easily predictable). T O: How has Accra changed since you were a boy? Y.O: I grew up mostly in Kumasi as a kid, but I had the opportunity to see most of the other parts of the country. Accra, as the capital, always demonstrated the greatest change each time I revisited, due to the fact that most developmental projects and businesses’ head offices were centralised there. T O: To survive in Accra, one has to be somewhat savvy and entrepreneurial. What creative ideas have you...

Ake yaa heko // One does not take it anywhere  On Tuesday 21st November 2017, Gallery 1957 welcomed an exclusive group of guests to witness the collaboration of world-famous coffin designer, Paa Joe, and modern performance artist, Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, in their portrayal of traditional funeral customs in Ghana. We were impressed as soon as we walked though the doors, but the real star of the show was the performance that accompanied the opening of this unique exhibition. Guests were led up the escalators by a drumming procession headed by Paa Joe himself, while traditional music and dancing increased our anticipation of what was about to take place. Efua Sutherland’s performance captivated everyone’s imagination and took all our breaths away. A wave of dancers carried in a young girl on a boat, whose death, traditional mourning, funeral and journey to the afterlife were depicted through dance and music. The performance allowed onlookers to move along with it and travel on the journey through the water to the afterlife with the performers. Inspired by Ga and Fante funerals, the coastal hometowns of both artists, there was also a direct coastal theme. The performance eventually ended in the Gallery itself, where Paa Joe looked on as people admired his specially curated collection of coffins and the performance of the afterlife that went along with it. Coinciding with his 70th birthday celebration, Paa Joe stated it was an immense honour and a sort of ‘homecoming’ to...