Obituary: Kwesi Owusu-Ankomah
Born: October,1956 – Died: Thursday 6th February, 2025.
Photo: © Jonathan Greet, 2014.
Acrylic on canvas, 135 x 175 cm.
Born in Sekondi, Ghana, Brother grew up in a large extended family. This breadth of communal family life was further increased by his mother’s caring for less fortunate children from neighbouring families, an insistence that he later said made him acutely aware of the transformative powers of ‘unconditional love.’ An unassuming and sensitive youth, Brother spent much time alone, climbing trees or wandering on the seashore where he taught himself to swim. Thus, began his lifelong enjoyment of swimming, spending hours on end in the embrace of a buoyant medium that allowed his mind to wander and wonder in equal amounts. A similar sense of exhilaration grew out of his experiences of training in the gym, where repetitious, rhythmic, physical movement freed his mind to drift, effortlessly, dwelling on thoughts both simple and profound. Predictably, these practices produced the powerful, athletic frame he built and maintained, a figural form whose silhouette is endlessly recorded in his canvases. Perhaps, an unanticipated consequence was the way these deep states of fertile reverie formed the foundation for Brother’s inimitable artistic vision.
From 1971 – 1974, Owusu-Ankomah studied Fine Arts at the Ghanatta College in Accra, travelling extensively to Europe for study and research between 1979 and 1985, before eventually moving to Bremen, in Germany, where he lived and worked for over three decades. Drawing on his childhood sense of wonder and a deep respect for humankind – indeed, for all sentient life – his work focussed on the creation of an alternate almost parallel world, wherein monumental human figures float and drift within a surrounding ocean of emblematic signs that support and, in some mysterious way, define each other.
rother’s early paintings showing figures outlined against a background of written words quickly developed to introduce ritually marked black-and-white figures moving over a matrix mainly composed of adinkra signs. These powerful symbols, rooted in the culture of the Akan-speaking peoples of Ghana, suggested a body of hidden knowledge encoded within the natural environment. In devising this singular device, Brother managed to associate the age-old practice of body painting, frequently found among African peoples, to a specifically Ghanaian ethos while forging links to western figurative traditions andmodernist trompe l’oeil techniques. The process by which these enigmatic figures coexist and interact with various iconic symbol sets has matured through distinct phases over time, reflecting Owusu-Ankomah’s own progressive journey of discovery. Alluding to this unique synthesis in his own words, he described himself as ‘an artist who paints for humankind and who just happens to come from Africa.’
Owusu-Ankomah’s, paintings were exhibited internationally in many European countries, including Germany and the UK, as well as in the USA, Cuba, Brazil, Senegal, South Africa and Japan. His modesty dissuaded him from detailing the long list of seminal exhibitions in which his work was shown: from Absolute Ghana, Accra Contemporary Art (ACA), Accra, Ghana; and An Inside Story: African Art of our Time, which toured Japan in 1995/6; to the notable Africa Remix exhibition that toured Europe and beyond and helped to define the dramatic resurgence of African art at the dawn of the 21st century. He also collaborated with designer Giorgio Armani to develop a line of clothing for the Red Campaign, which raised awareness and money for the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.
An extraordinary visual and visionary artist, Owusu-Ankomah insisted on our shared potentiality to harness the power of unconditional love. Indeed, his final words to those around him were ‘Love one another!’ Brother will be sorely missed by all at October Gallery, and our thoughts are with his family; his wife and six children; his large group of friends; and those many people who came to know and love this wonderful man and to admire his timeless work.