Big Artists Take Centre Stage In Accra

Celebrated artists and several upcoming ones from the distinguished Painting and Sculpture Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) will rub shoulders as the institute holds its end of year exhibition 2015.

From Friday, 19th June to 17th July 2015, the Museum of Science and Technology, Accra, will play host to some of the best painters, sculptors, and conceptual artists to come from the KNUST from the past, present and the future.

Tagged as ‘The Gown must go to Town’, the Department of Painting and Sculpture of the KNUST celebrates its recent past student Ibrahim Mahama’s participation in the 2015 Venice Biennale as the youngest artist of the International Exhibition ‘All the World’s Futures’. The Department also congratulates its past student El Anatsui for his Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement awarded by the same Biennale.

The titular ‘the Gown must go to Town’, a précis of the ethos of the present curriculum, is a rehash of an important axiom in the acclaimed speech, ‘The African Genius’, delivered by Kwame Nkrumah in 1963.

The Gown must go to Town features the works of the department’s 2015 graduating class of BFA students and selected teaching assistants. Also featuring are six special guest artists, all graduates of the same department, whose works have featured prominently in other important platforms of contemporary art such as the I:54 Contemporary African Art Fair New York; SMBA’s ‘Time Trade and Travel’; Stedelijk Museum’s ‘How far how near’; the two Saatchi ‘Pangaea’ Shows; and ‘Silence between the Lines’ in Kumasi.

In the past decade, the department has risen to become a hub of ambitious contemporary art in West Africa. The new spirit was instigated by an Artist Collective of young tutors inspired by Kąrî'kạchä Seid’ou’s ‘Emancipatory Art Teaching’.

The Artist Collective and its networks introduced a new spirit of contemporaneity, material and political sensitivity, and reflective public engagement into the curriculum.

This edition of the KNUST End of Year Show is supported by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, the Nubuke Foundation, the Cultural Attaché’s Department of the French Embassy, and friends of blaxTARLINES KUMASI, the Contemporary Art Project Space of the Department of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST.

The participating artists from the BFA Class of 2015 include Mohammed Taajudeen Abdulai, Michael Adjei Danso, Sandra Kusi Agyei, Joshua Ahenkorah, Dzidepo Mensah Ahlijah, Ronit Akomeah, Effie Amonoo, Larry Amponsah, Lois Selasie Arde-Acquah, Prince Akuffo Asante, Alvin Ashiatey, Fred Afram Asiedu, John Attakora Gyimah, Mustapha Awuni, Emmamuel Kwasi Azumah, Eunice Oppong Baah, Lawrence Baganiah, Samuel Boateng, Elolo Bosoka, Frank Botchway, Joshua Osei Mensah Brobbey, Felix Darko Adu, and Francis Djiwornu.

The rest are Dzidefo Kwami Yao Dogbeten, Farouk Ameen Kudos Haajar, Adjo Kisser, Silas Mensah, George Neequaye, Elvis Nsiah, Stephen Odei Tettey, Ruby Oduro, Emmanuel Opoku Manu, Barima Osei Sarfo, Yaw Owusu, Derrick Owusu Bempah, Belinda Owusu-Boakye, Emmanuel Kwaku Pianim, Gershom Sackey, Kafui Torgbui, Samuel Nii Wellington, Chartwell Cofie, Mary Osei Baah, Bright Gyimah Danso

The participating artists from the BFA Class of 2014 include Mavis Tetteh-Ocloo, Gideon Asmah, Kwame Asante Agyare, William Duku, Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, Francis Anim Sakyi, Godfried Tetteh, and Joshua Gblorkpor.

The six special guest artists include Afia Sarpong Prempeh, Jeremiah Quarshie, Selasi Sosu, Dorothy Amenuke, Edwin Bodjawah, and Ibrahim Mahama.

THE GOWN MUST GO TO TOWN POSTER