Artwork
#impasto
#Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
#portray
#portraits
#sports activities
March 22, 2024
Grace Ebert
All through the Eighties and Nineties, the Bukom neighborhood of Accra, Ghana’s capital, produced a number of champion boxers—together with Roy Ankrah, Azumah Nelson, and Ike Quartey—and their information drew worldwide fame, cash, and status that helped to safe the realm as a hub for the game.
As scholar Emmanuel Akyeampong particulars in an insightful essay, boxing rose to recognition within the mid-Twentieth century as tensions between Ghanaians and English colonizers intensified. Decrease lessons had beforehand taken up asafo atwele, organized group tournaments that prized “profitable in type,” however after the British banned the exercise round 1935, many fighters transitioned to state-sanctioned Western boxing. As a result of the latter sport pits single opponents towards each other, it’s come to represent the chance that particular person self-determination and power can result in a lifetime of glory and wealth.
In a brand new physique of labor debuting at Roberts Tasks, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe delves into this historical past. Titled Corridor of Fame, the work mirror the figures and emotions of the artist’s native Ghana.
Quaicoe begins every work with a photograph of his topic and renders their eyes first, instantly grounding their presence in oil paint. As with earlier collection, the artist’s distinctive use of patterned texture is outstanding in these new portraits, which appear to push the dimension of the medium additional. He lays thick, three-dimensional swirls for hair, and sweeping brushstrokes characterize his flat, monochrome backdrops. Their pores and skin stays in his signature grayscale.
Corridor of Fame focuses largely on males, and though boxing can breed machismo, Quaicoe makes use of the game to query masculinity and anti-Blackness. Specializing in the person, their energy, and potential, he asks what it means to carry out an id and carry out within the ring, prompting viewers to look extra carefully on the individuals behind each acts.
If you happen to’re in Los Angeles, you may see Corridor of Fame from March 23 to April 27. In any other case, discover extra from the artist on Instagram.
#impasto
#Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
#portray
#portraits
#sports activities
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