The Art Exposure Blog

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a painter and a writer of Ghanaian descent. She was born in London, England and she currently resides and works there. Lynettes parents are originally from Ghana and after arriving in UK they worked as nurses for the National Health Service. She attended Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, graduated from Falmouth College of Art in the year 2000 and completed her Masters in Art degree at The Royal Academy Schools in 2003. Her paintings are predominantly figurative with raw and muted colors. With her expressive representations of the human figure, the artist examines the formal mechanisms of the medium of painting and reveals political and psychological dimensions in her works, which focus on fictional characters who exist beyond our world or in a different time and in an unknown location. She paints figures that are intentionally removed from time and place and has stated, “People ask me, ‘Who are they, where are they?’ What they should be...

 As we are working on launching the new Art Exposure platform later this year, we also want to create other contents to help support our main objective that is to focus on contemporary African artists and their art. We want to introduce the ARTISTS PROFILE which focuses on shedding more light on African artist's both known and unknown to the masses by creating this video content that will help the viewers have some knowledge about contemporary African artists on our continent. We have artists that are making it and those that are emerging and we see it as part of our objective to let all be known alongside their works and achievements. This is aimed at getting others inspired and also educating everyone about what our African artists have been up to. HOW TO GET FEATURED ON THE ARTISTS PROFILE If you are also an artists and want to partake in this, you can send an email to us theartexposure@gmail.com the email must contain -images of you and your work -a short biograp...

Nyamerich is a new artist who just became part of The Art Exposure. He is into arts and craft works and looks forward to exhibit his art and crafts work to the world using our platform. His first artwork which is a hand crafted basket is the art you need to make your day bright. A colorful basket that can serve many purpose. It can help individuals who are in the market for shopping, you can place gifts in them and present it to someone and the basket itself can be a gift on its own. Nyamerich is the first artist to be unveiled on The Art Exposure. His baskets are made from stripes of palm branches and colorful threads To make requests or purchases, visit Nyamerich s profile on the website. You can view more about Nyamerich and how to contact him.

Since 2011, Chalewote street art festival has become a norm and it is here to stay. Every year, artists across Ghana and the world meet up at Jamestown in Accra to celebrate art. This festival also serves as a platform for artists to display and sell their art. Chalewote has become a huge grounds for artist exposure and only few spots are always available because every artist jumps at the opportunity to gain exposure for their work and for themselves. This years Chalewote was themed WATAMATA. The meaning of this according to accradotaltradio.com is WATA MATA is the end of a trilogy that began with the festival theme of African Electronics in 2015. It signifies our collective capacity to regenerate our lives into deeply imaginative and cooperative ways of being. There are specific methods of visioning, inventing and thriving that exist in the world and the artists participating in this year’s festival will share their creative strategies and interpretations on making freedom...

This artwork was painted in the year 2000 by John Essilfie Junior. The art is a symbol depicting our local celebration. There is no way you can term a celebration a Traditional celebration without the drummers. In Africa, drummers are very important aspects of our culture and most importantly in our festivities. In the royal palaces of the tribes in Ghana, West Africa, different types of drums are used depending on the occasion and different drummers are assigned to these drums because only these drummers understand their drum and will know what to play at what particular time during an occasion. Drums also are used to send messages across to people. For example in the Akan tribe in Ghana, they have drummers that handle the talking drum. The talking drum is used to send a message whiles it’s been played. With the talking drum, we have two drummers, one that plays the drum and the other that interprets what the drum is saying. In the Northern part of Ghana also, drummers are...

Art is universally a means of glorifying persons of rank. The presence of objects elaborately carved in such precious materials as gold , silver , or ivory usually indicates the presence of a ruling class, surplus wealth, and the wherewithal to employ specialized craftsmen. In Africa, most lost-wax bronze castings, for example, require a highly specialized production technique and although it is not an art entirely restricted to kingdoms, it receives its greatest elaboration where the chief or a wealthy caste can afford to maintain a group of specialized artists. In Benin the privilege of working bronze was reserved for a special corporation who lived in a special quarter of the town and who came under the control of the Oba - the ruler. Among the Bamileke , artists were thought of and treated as servants, even slaves, of their chiefs in whose palaces they lived and through whom they sold their work. In these situations African art is not the result of "instinct" - captur...

Art as an African is an essential part of who we are. On the onset as a child you are being educated about some basic part of our culture that will aid your acceptance and survival in our society. For example how you relate with those older than you, how you must refer to them in certain patterns of conversation etc. Now visual art (eg. painting) has helped maintain and preserved our culture. For example when you visit some of the art centers in Accra, you will see paintings that tell stories from our history and helps you understand and even go deep into the story because the more you stare at the painting, the more elements you see that opens your mind to understand certain activities that took place in our country many years ago. Artist in Ghana or across the continent of Africa have used this medium as a way to let foreigners understand some  elements of history in their culture. These artists who create such illustrations through art ha...