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TECHNIQUE, STYLE AND CONCEPTS According to scientists man has just used below 15% of the brains capacity, [...]
TECHNIQUE, STYLE AND CONCEPTS
According to scientists man has just used below 15% of the brains capacity, and yet there is a whole lot in the world, talk about scientific, technological and artistic developments and discoveries. This means if the over 85% is to be exhausted the world will become an unimaginable place.
A few decades back there was nothing like a compact disc but some one upon long years of research came out with the compact disc and an improvement has been made just a few years ago and so now there is mini-disc. There is something that characterizes such inventions and discoveries- the urge to go into the matrix. New technologies have come about as a result of someone’s curiosity to go into the future and come out with ideas, which will make tomorrow a better day than today.
Title: ‘The matrix’
Size: 30” x 40”
Medium: acrylic on canvas
My works are more often than not, very abstract and it is that urge to go into the matrix that serves as impetus for that. I am really not supposed to say so much about what these works mean to the observer but rather I would like the observer to look, interpret and enjoy these works his or her own way. I would like these works to be appreciated just like a jazz piece (with no lyrics) here the analogy seems so justified because in art the spectrum is seven coloured so as in music there are seven major notes and a very good composition of these colours or music notes will result in a very good painting or jazz piece.
Just as we can enjoy a jazz piece even though its just an instrumental composition I would like my audience and patrons to appreciate and enjoy my works without ‘understanding’ it. I believe art must be enjoyed and not necessarily understood before we can say it is art.
I guess it will be very easy for you to just identify say a painted portrait of say the president of Ghana but after that what else? I believe art gets more exciting when you see a new kind of beauty and feel a new kind of enjoyment and fulfilment each time you look at the work and still have some questions about some elements in the work. This is what my works present. The satisfaction and enjoyment is mostly found in this seemingly haphazard attempt at abstraction.
Because you always look at it and would still want to understand it and enjoy it, and believe you me, each time you look at it you will find a new enjoyment because the way you feel about it will be affected by the moods you find yourself in. This in my opinion is what a good art should do. Trying to interpret and enjoy my works, I guess will not even take 0.000001% of your brains capacity so that you will still have more than the 85% of your brains capacity that is yet to be put to use. Use just that small fraction to interpret, enjoy and analyze these beautifully crafted paintings on your own and the way you want it. Perhaps there is no other way to enjoy them.
According to scientists man has just used below 15% of the brains capacity, and yet there is a whole lot in the world, talk about scientific, technological and artistic developments and discoveries. This means if the over 85% is to be exhausted the world will become an unimaginable place.
A few decades back there was nothing like a compact disc but some one upon long years of research came out with the compact disc and an improvement has been made just a few years ago and so now there is mini-disc. There is something that characterizes such inventions and discoveries- the urge to go into the matrix. New technologies have come about as a result of someone’s curiosity to go into the future and come out with ideas, which will make tomorrow a better day than today.
Title: ‘The matrix’
Size: 30” x 40”
Medium: acrylic on canvas
My works are more often than not, very abstract and it is that urge to go into the matrix that serves as impetus for that. I am really not supposed to say so much about what these works mean to the observer but rather I would like the observer to look, interpret and enjoy these works his or her own way. I would like these works to be appreciated just like a jazz piece (with no lyrics) here the analogy seems so justified because in art the spectrum is seven coloured so as in music there are seven major notes and a very good composition of these colours or music notes will result in a very good painting or jazz piece.
Just as we can enjoy a jazz piece even though its just an instrumental composition I would like my audience and patrons to appreciate and enjoy my works without ‘understanding’ it. I believe art must be enjoyed and not necessarily understood before we can say it is art.
I guess it will be very easy for you to just identify say a painted portrait of say the president of Ghana but after that what else? I believe art gets more exciting when you see a new kind of beauty and feel a new kind of enjoyment and fulfilment each time you look at the work and still have some questions about some elements in the work. This is what my works present. The satisfaction and enjoyment is mostly found in this seemingly haphazard attempt at abstraction.
Because you always look at it and would still want to understand it and enjoy it, and believe you me, each time you look at it you will find a new enjoyment because the way you feel about it will be affected by the moods you find yourself in. This in my opinion is what a good art should do. Trying to interpret and enjoy my works, I guess will not even take 0.000001% of your brains capacity so that you will still have more than the 85% of your brains capacity that is yet to be put to use. Use just that small fraction to interpret, enjoy and analyze these beautifully crafted paintings on your own and the way you want it. Perhaps there is no other way to enjoy them.
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Biography
PROFILE
KWABENA OWUSU-ACQUAH is a young Ghanaian artist. He had his high school education at Prempeh College, Kumasi. He then proceeded to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (K.N.U.S.T), which has the only degree awarding College of Art in Ghana, for a Bachelor of Fine art in painting.
Kwabena virtually works in all painting and drawing media. His favorite medium is acrylic paints. His works cover basically generic themes and subject matter that come both in abstract and objective but sometimes very expressionistic forms.
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Nationality:
GHANA
- Date of birth : 1980
- Artistic domains:
- Groups: Ghanaian Contemporary Artists
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Activity on ArtMajeur
Last modification date : Apr 2, 2007
(Member since 2007)
Image views: 16,851
Artworks by Kowah added to favorite collections: 1
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All the latest news from contemporary artist Kowah
Added Mar 16, 2007
ABOUT ARTIST
PROFILE
KWABENA OWUSU-ACQUAH is a young Ghanaian artist. He had his high school education at Prempeh College, Kumasi. He then proceeded to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (K.N.U.S.T), which has the only degree awarding College of Art in Ghana, for a Bachelor of Fine art in painting.
Kwabena virtually works in all painting and drawing media. His favorite medium is acrylic paints. His works cover basically generic themes and subject matter that come both in abstract and objective but sometimes very expressionistic forms.
Added Mar 16, 2007
Philosophy
Kwabena believes color is the most powerful tool as far as painting is concerned therefore every space of color in his work has an individual uniqueness. Kwabena believes that simplicity provides a fine line between plainness and eloquence. Carefully worked and seductively painted contrasting colors of his subject are full of delightful touches that repay viewing. His style is not a reckless abstract expression, but a more controlled use of color and form in abstract expression.
He says because of his relationship with theater and fashion he ends up elevating in a theatrical manner common genre scenes and activities around him into something else. Kwabena has a philosophy that he always stands by and that is, the belief that one of the essential considerations is that art must be a powerful tool to describe, criticize and re-construct society. He also says the appreciation of art means a contribution of understanding and enjoyment of a piece of artwork and so it is therefore possible to heighten our appreciation of art, to learn to see, to take an active interest in the visual world. And he says when we do so we are only following a basic aesthetic impulse – an urge to respond to that which we find beautiful.
Whether for good or for ill, Kwabena believes his works evoke a response, but that does not imply that art should or should not be beautiful in a more conventional sense. He claims many artists aim at creating this kind of beauty, if that is their goal then we may measure their success according to how well they achieve it.
Added Mar 16, 2007
Article
Golden Tulip hosts harmattan artworks
The Saturday Statesman , 13/01/2007
The Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra is currently hosting an exhibition of paintings in earth colours by Gabriel Eklou. Appropriately titled, "The Harmattan” works on display recall extremely evocative images from the savannah highlands including giant baobab tress, round huts that have been embellished with tiny bits of bold colours as well as dusty pathways and alleys.
Eklou, well noted for his use of human figures with stilt-like legs, employs the use of symbols, simple shapes and clouds that seem to compliment his leafless baobab trees that he sets against equally huge huts and open skies.
In other works, Eklou paints elongated human figures that are characterised by agitated brush strokes and bold colours while large-scale windows in earth colours dominate some pieces. Indeed, his windows take on the same colour and weight as his huts and baobab trees.
“The Legacy” is a large-scale work that comprises a one storey Northern hut partially overshadowed by a baobab tree. Eklou allows light to enter the frame by creating a space space for the bright sky while human figures idle about.
In contrast “African Elegance” is made up of extremely elongated human figures in vibrant colours. Symbols and other shapes adorn the left hand side of the piece, which expose the beauty of the African.
Works by his exhibition partner Owusu Acquah are realised in sub-divided plains with tiny human figures randomly placed at specific intervals. His collage works depict fashion scenes with textiles being incorporated onto the canvas.
In some works, Acquah pastes clips of newspaper on the canvas as he scribbles various messages in ink. He also utilizes women and colourful clouds to effectively communicate his thoughts and ideas. Golden Tulip Hotel is sponsoring the exhibition, which ends on Wednesday January 31, 2007.
Added Mar 16, 2007
GROUP EXHIBITIONS HELD
- LYDON HOUSE ART CENTER, ATHENS GEORGIA – MARCH 2004 U S A
-SHANGRI-LA HOTEL SEPTEMBER 2002 ACCRA
-LA PALM HOTEL FEBRUARY 2002 ACCRA
-SHANGRI-LA HOTEL FEBRUARY 2002 ACCRA
-ATAG BAZAAR DECEMBER 2001 ACCRA
-SHANGRI-LA HOTEL OCTOBER 2001 ACCRA
-TRATECH SEPTEMBER 2001 KNUST, KUMASI
-PANAFEST AUGUST 2001 CAPE COAST
-GOLDEN TULIP HOTEL OCTOBER 2000 ACCRA
-SHANGRI-LA HOTEL AUGUST 2000 ACCRA
-UNKNOWN ARTIST EXHIBITION-NORTHERN SECTOR FEBRUARY 2000 -KUMASI
-TRATECH DECEMBER 1999 KNUST, KUMASI
-PANAFEST AUGUST 1999 CAPE COAST
-CENTRAL EXPO SEPTEMBER 1998 CAPE COAST
-PANAFEST AUGUST 1997 CAPE COAST
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