Larry Amponsah Ghana, b. 1989
Overview
Larry Amponsah is an artist whose practice questions the orthodoxy of traditional approaches to image-making, unfolding the ways in which modes of production construct the contemporary politics of imagery. Intellectually trained as a painter, Amponsah creates collage paintings with archival images, objects, and stories sampled from various cultures to refigure systems of power while embracing new realities and new possibilities. He transforms prints and cuts into archival images, which are assembled in collages that are further worked upon using mechanical processes and his honed skills as a painter. In this succession of strategic moves about image-making techniques, dynamic compositions emerge, as well as compelling narratives or portraits that reference his own upbringing and culture within a global context.
Exhibitions
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Constellations Part 1: Figures On Earth & Beyond
Curated by Katherine Finerty, Nuna Adisenu-Doe, and Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson 14 Mar - 25 May 2024Artists participating in this group show include first-time collaborators of the Gallery; Adelaide Damoah, Alberta Whittle, Andrew Pierre Hart, Ayesha Feisal, Ayomide Tejuoso (Plantation), Denyse Gawu-Mensah, Henry Hussey, Lisa C...Read more -
Larry Amponsah - Mastery might be a long way off, but the flow state induced by floristry is profoundly rewarding
Gallery II, Accra 15 Dec 2023 - 1 Mar 2024PV: Thursday 14th December 2023 This new body of work is curated by Katherine Finerty and follows a four-month residency with the gallery in the artist's hometown of Accra. Through...Read more
Biography
Amponsah is an Associate Lecturer at the Camberwell Collage of Art – University of the Arts London. He obtained his MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London, United Kingdom in 2018 after studying at Jiangsu University China in 2016 and completing his BFA at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana in 2015. From 2018-2020 he was a Trustee of The Kuenyehia Art Trust in Ghana. He was shortlisted for the 2019 Dentons Art Prize and won the Be Smart About Art Award in 2019. His works are held in public and private collections including The Wellcome Collection in London.
Select solo exhibitions by the artist include: ‘The Soil Form Which We Came’, Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai (2023); ‘Genesis, The Plan & The Promise’, The Breeder Gallery, Athens (2022); ‘When A Stone Cracks, We Don’t Stitch’, 50 Golborne, London (2019); ‘The Open City of Many Gods’ Billboard, Bloc Projects, Sheffield (2019) and ‘Imaginary Direction of Time’, The Fine Art Gallery, CSU-Pueblo Hoag Hall, Colorado (2018).
Recent group exhibitions by the artist include: Hold The Line (Outdoor Project with The World Reimagined), The National Maritime Museum, London (2023); The 63rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival - The Metropolitan organisation of Museums of Visual Art – MOMus, Thessaloniki (2022); Reconstruction – Thessaloniki Film Festival, The Project Gallery, Athens (2022); Frieze London, The Breeder Gallery, London (2022); The World Reimagined, TWR, London & Leeds (2022); A Collective Intimacy (within Theaster Gates’s installation Black Image Corporation) presented by Prada, The Vinyl Factory & The Showroom, 180 The Strand, London, UK; ‘DEAR’, Dyson Gallery, RCA Battersea, London (2019); ‘DAMNED IF I DO... DAMNED IF I DON’T’ for Open Space’s: Of Hosts & Guests, Pushkin House, London (2019); ‘FBA Futures Exhibition’, Mall Galleries, London (2019); ‘SURGE’, East Wing Biennial 13, Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2018); ‘YOUNG GUNS’, Sulger-Buel Lovell Gallery, London (2018); ‘Open House CCA’, Delfina Foundation, London (2017); ‘What is your local word for ‘Smile?’, ArtXanady’s Pop-up Gallery, Labone, Ghana (2016); and ‘The Gown Must Go To Town’, Museum of Science and Technology, Accra (2015).