FOSTER SAKYIAMAH

Foster Sakyiamah (b.1983, Ghana) is a contemporary emerging artist based in Accra. Strikingly vibrant and echoing the rich ochre yellows of the Ghanaian landscape and atmosphere, Sakyiamah’s painting Sisters Reunion is a superb example of the artist’s distinct painterly style that celebrates life and the rich cultural heritage of his country, Ghana. Taking cues from Malick Sidibé, the Malian artist, noted for his black-and-white photographs against patterned backgrounds, depicting the burgeoning pop culture of the 1960’s in Bamako, Sakyiamah captures, in a similar manner, on canvas, the effervescent spirit of his contemporaries in Accra, the city where he lives and works. One of the fastest growing cities in the world, Accra experiences a newly found economic freedom, and all the aspects that come with it - prosperity, wealth, fashion, and leisure - emerge as the main source of inspiration for the artist’s oeuvre. The instantly recognizable pop imagery, comprised from two full-frontal portraits, side by side, wearing the same hat, depicts the artist’s two sisters in a manner reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s double portrait of Truman Capote.

In person the swirls are very luscious and painterly, made with the rubber sole of a traditional Ghanaian sandal. This abstract patternation is now instantly recognisable as being a work from Foster. An emblematic symbol of Foster Sakyiamah’s practice is the remarkable clarity of his craft and process. The technical challenge in creating his gestural compositions becomes an equal interest for him. Playing with the boldness of saturated hues, the artist refines the elements in his painting into abstract arrangements of sensuous curves, lyrical yet precise, each carefully positioned so they don’t overlap. What resembles a monoprinting technique of the swirly sole of “Chale Wote”, the popular Ghanaian sandal, renders the background into a flat surface with the appearance of a woven textile pattern. “Chale Wote”, the term referring to the flip-flops found in most Ghanaian homes and the symbol of the shoe that pervades class, ethnic, gender and age barriers, becomes, consequently, a statement of Sakyiamah’s practice that carries the marks of universal motifs and pictorial emotion to a broader appeal.