59 3/50 x 47 12/50 x 1 27/50 inches
Gallery 1957 pleased to be presenting work by Godfried Donkor, Arthur Timothy, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Lord Ohene, Cornelius Annor, Afia Prempeh and Patrick Alston in London for the ninth edition of the fair at Somerset House.
The Artists:
Godfried Donkor is a British-Ghanaian mixed-media artist interested in the socio-historical relationships of Africa and Europe. Born in Kumasi, Ghana in 1964, Donkor left at the age of eight, growing up mostly in England then living and studying in Spain from 1990-1992, before completing a BA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London and an MA in African Art History at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.
Donkor’s work is included in international collections such as: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Smithsonian Museum of African Art - Washington D.C; Studio Museum, Harlem; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Spanish Sports Council Collection; National Collection of Senegal; University of Helsinki; and National Gallery of Botswana.
Donkor's first permanent public commission has been unveiled by the Camberwell Society at Denmark Hill Station, London.
Arthur Timothy (b. 1957, Accra, Ghana) is an artist and architect who lives and works in London and Bath. He spent his early childhood in Freetown, Sierra Leone. His artwork has been exhibited at the Royal Academy (London), Ronchini Gallery (London) and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery (online). It is part of important international collections including the permanent collection of ICA Miami. Timothy studied Architecture at the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield and the work of his architectural studio has been widely published and exhibited. Arthur Timothy
Serge Attukwei Clottey (Ghana, b. 1985) is known for work that examines the powerful agency of everyday objects. Working across installation, performance, photography and sculpture, Clottey explores personal and political narratives rooted in histories of trade and migration.
At the centre of Clottey’s engaged dialogue with Ghana’s cultural history is the notion of performance as a daily activity. Through his notable work, My Mother’s Wardrobe, presented at Gallery 1957, Clottey used performance to explore traditional gender roles along with notions of family, ancestry and spirituality. Clottey’s work sits at the intersection of making and action, drawing heavily on the artist’s immediate and ever-changing environment. Clottey, received an Honorary Doctorate of Art from the University of Brighton in 2019, his work has recently been presented in solo exhibitions at The Mistake Room, Los Angeles; Ever Gold [Projects], SanFrancisco; Gallery 1957, Accra; Gnyp, Berlin; Lorenzelli Arte, Milan; Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium Foundation, Oslo. His works have been included in recent group exhibitions at Desert X, Palm Desert; Christie’s Beverly Hills, Los Angeles; The Moody Center, Rice University, Houston; Iziko South Africa National Gallery, Cape Town; UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles.
Lord Ohene Okyere-Bour is an Amsterdam-based Ghanaian portraiture, figurative, and life painter born in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, West Africa. He lived in Accra and later moved to Amsterdam to pursue his art career. Like many other Ghanaian artists, Ohene is a product of the prestigious Ghanatta College or Art and Design. Combining figurative and portraiture skills and techniques, Ohene has developed his own unique style of bold stunning portraits making use of beads and stones which has made his work easily identifiable.
Afia Prempeh (b.1986 Kumasi, Ghana.) Afia Prempeh is a painter born and raised in the historic capital of the Asante Kingdom. A proud graduate of the prestigious Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (K.N.U.S.T.), Prempeh earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts in 2009 and has been a practicing artist ever since - developing her practice through commissioned landscapes, still lifes and portraits. Her insistence on a ‘carte blanche’ approach to the backgrounds of her portraits has matured into her signature style of incredibly detailed backgrounds full of personal objects and artifacts - giving a sense of undeniable truth to even the most flattering portrait.
Prempeh recalls Monday morning “Philosophy in Painting” seminars led by Professor Kari Kacha Seidou and his beckoning to look “beyond the surface” being influential in her approach to painting - it was these seminars that introduced her to the landscape portrait works of renowned American & European Master painters. Technical sessions led by Dr Godfred Y. Anum at the college laid a sound foundation for her realistic depictions of the human figure. After graduation, Prempeh completed obligatory National Service at the Manhyia Palace Museum giving tours to guests wishing to learn of the history and culture of the Asante Kingdom. Working closely with the broad collection of royal regalia, photographs, medals, furniture and deeply personal belongings of the Asantehene and Asantehemaa of stools past, Prempeh was inspired to imbue her own portraits with personal artifacts that tell the story of her sitters.
Cornelius Annor is a portrait and figurative painter and an art teacher. He completed his fine art studies at Ghanatta College of Art and Design. From an early age, Annor had a strong fascination for the human face and figure and constantly sketched the faces of his family,
friends and even strangers he encountered. With the encouragement of his college art teachers and family, Annor fully realized that his career was evolving around portraiture and figuration.
Annor has a keen sense of observation, and an ability to bring out the beauty of a human figure.
