Wiz Kudowor, Popular Painter, Holds Art Exhibition

Wiz Edinam Kudowor, a renowned artist, held his first major art exhibition at the ANO gallery in Accra.

The collection is made up of over 50 paintings and works which mostly display the culture of Africa as never been shown before.

Multiple exhibitions will be staged due to the expansive nature of his collection which he has put together for over 40 years.

The works range from his early efforts from high school in the early 70's, through to his time in University and after.

His works include figure drawing, portraiture, still life, architectural designs, fabric designs and his well-known signature style of figurative abstraction with influences from African Masks, Geometric patterns and esoteric symbolism.

Wiz Kudowor describes himself as a pan-Africanist philosopher, historian, poet, cultural activist, spiritual teacher an art therapist and indigenous knowledge archivist.

Wiz attended Keta Senior High School where he started his lifelong ambitions as a hobby but nurtured it into a career.

He is an alumnus of the College of Art at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi and is also a member of the Artists Alliance Gallery.

His works take audiences on a trip through the different Ghanaian cultures and Ghanaian history, from market science to anti-military regime protests by university students during the early 80s to festivals, and social gatherings.

Inspired by Ghana's first leader Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the relief sculpture on the facade of Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum is also credited to Wiz Kudowor.

Most of his artworks are captured female figures, masculine energy, dancing figures and joyful drinking bar scenes.

His works have travelled the borders of Ghana as he has participated in several international exhibitions and won the Osaka Triennale Bronze Prize and Ghana Airways Silver Jubilee Art Contest.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ANO Gallery exhibition, Wiz revealed how it all started for him.

“I have done this for over 40 years. I took the decision to become an artist in high school; Keta Senior High School. Those were the days where we sketch and practise to develop the skills. The motivation was to find one’s strength in various media and develop them to wherever we want to take them. Any space that I can find my inner peace is space enough for me to be inspired to draw,” he said.

According to him, even though government’s input in the art sector has been minimal, it is necessary for artists to preserve the heritage of the African history that seems to be fading out.

“It was important for me to record some of the African cultural practices that we seem to be losing, so I was capturing those moments for posterity. Throughout my lifetime we have tried to get the government involved as much as possible, but nothing seems to have happened and now they are trying to do bits and pieces here and there to make us feel like we are getting something but nothing is happening really.

“I don't think that as artists we should allow government’s inability to put us somewhere proper should affect us because whatever we do comes from within, so we should allow ourselves to move on and stay up, and keep things going. We have been given the skills and the mindset towards a lot of things including our culture. So we have to be moving even without government's involvement because that's what has been happening for long. A lot of artists have been operating with very little and that is where we are at.”

When asked if he has come to the end of the road due to his age and inability to move quite well, he said: “artists don't stop until they fall down, we always keep going and we get better with age.”

Wiz is married with 3 children and believes he is “one of the most successful Ghanaian artists that you can find around”.