On African Art

Market Blues by Ablade GloverArt in Africa is a way of life. Dance, music, sculpture, painting; these are all essential parts of Ghanaian and West African culture. Unfortunately for Ghana's artists, there are few places in Accra where they can officially display their work. During my first week in Ghana we visited one of these places and it has been hard for me to forget.
The Artists Alliance is a three floor white building with wide staircases and large windows overlooking La beach and stained by ocean spray. The owner and founder is man named Ablade Glover, a renowned Ghanaian painter. The space is light and open; canvas cover the walls, splashes of color and vibrance. Though most of the art displayed at the Artists Alliance is contemporary African art, it shares many themes with traditional art: the use of bright color, the portrayal of African daily and spiritual life, a reverence for nature.
Glover insists that the Alliance has an open door policy. Any budding artist hoping to display his or her work is welcome to walk in and show a portfolio to Glover. He informed us that many of the works on the walls of the gallery are by artists who were unknown and undiscovered until they approached him.
The paintings that enthralled and moved me the most were those done by Glover himself. Many of his works appear to be splashes of color but after moments of study will reveal animals, trees, people. I was standing in front of a series of his paintings portraying African women when he approached me. Glover paints these woman as strong and graceful creatures with long necks, chins stuck out, noses high, babies clinging to their backs. These women are regal. I asked him why he paints women the way he does and he explained to me that he believes women are the backbone of Ghanaian society, feeding the family, caring for the children, bringing in an income. He confided in me that his mother had raised him and his siblings single handedly and she had influenced his admiration for women.
Untitled by Ablade Glover
Those paintings have shaped the way I view and approach Ghanaians. Just as de Botton comes to appreciate Provence through van Gogh, I began to understand the gender politics of Ghana by seeing Glover's painting. Even beyond Glover's work, I have seen a lot of art in many forms during my time in Ghana and each composition reveals something to me about the spirit of Ghana and of West Africa.