Studio Damoah

How to Make £1Billion!

Never before in my life time have I heard more fuss and talk about money, the economy, banking systems and banking products. Never. Not even in 2008, when the shit really hit the fan with the global financial crisis. It is endless. 


As usual, the news is full of doom and gloom, but this just feels different. The public are more knowledgeable and something is building. This 99 % movement is growing rapidly. We are the 99% after all. I will come onto how I am going to make £1Billion a bit later. Lets get some background out of the way first…





 I was in Venice last week and was got to go to the Biennale for the first time (Big cheesy grin). 





The world financial situation was represented in the art at the exhibition and there were placards and notices all over the city, in the strangest of places. It was inspiring to see artists and the people responding in this way, especially with recent events in Italy. More pics below.





I digress… I don’t claim to be an expert in financial matters, but with all of this going on, we, the public, don’t seem to have a choice but to learn. It is interesting that some rumour about a company can cause it’s shares to come crashing down in value over night. It is interesting to me that countries are on the brink of bankruptcy and their leaders are being forced out and replaced by ex leaders of the real rulers of this world, banks. Well Goldman Sachs to be precise. Goldman Sachs rules the world. Just ask Berlusconi.


Right up to country level, we appear to be in this nonsensical position which means that you borrow money (which does not really exist) at a certain interest rate. You pay the money back, but something happens because yes, bad things happen in life sometimes and you can not make your monthly payment for a month or two. What happens then? The loan company puts on a whole heap of charges and hikes up your interest rate to add pepper to the stew. All of a sudden, you owe more money than you borrowed in the first place and what you have been paying off for the past five years counts for absolutely nothing. How utterly depressing. The longer you are in that position, the more hopeless it becomes, and so the cycle continues. When individuals are in that position, what can you do but moan, continue in your JOB (just over broke) and keep trying to make those payments knowing at the back of your mind that unless you win the lottery, your going to be paying that shit off for life. Sucker. 


But wait, why do banks loan money (which does not physically exist) to people who have not got a hope in hell of ever paying it back? Why did the European economies lend money to each other- and I am talking billions of pounds to each other when the countries they were lending to were broke as hell and never had a hope in hell of ever paying back? Wait, the lenders themselves were already broke right? Where did they get the money to lend? 


I got this quote direct from a video which I think explains the mess pretty well:


 “When banks make loans, they create additional [bank] deposits for those that have borrowed the money.” These ‘bank deposits’ are just the numbers in your account.

Martin Wolf, the chief economics editor at the Financial Times, says that “The essence of the contemporary monetary system is the creation of money, out of nothing, by private banks’ often foolish lending.”


Here is the video:




Here is another one which breaks down the European situation in a humorous way.

Very funny. 
I am no economist. I am an artist with an interest in what is going on. All of this got me thinking. I think I had watched yet another news story about all this financial doom and gloom and all of a sudden I was inspired. Nothing deep. I just decided to create my own currency. Create my own mini economy! Ha! I want lots of money, I guess you could call me a capitalist artist, even though, clearly, money is not why I do what I do. I am no Damien Hirst. Well not yet. In any case, I want lots of money. These days lots of money is a billion plus. So why not MAKE lots of money. Not in the conventional sense. I’m not going to get a high flying job, or set up some cash generating business. Nor am I going to start illegally printing bank notes. I am just going to make my own paper money. I have started already. I have a prototype. They are small notes. Each one has it’s own value. Each one will have some markings on it representative of what we see as paper money today, but I will put my own spin on it and it will have my name on it. My target is to make £1Billion worth of my currency. I have no time limit and there are no rules apart from, I am not going to make a one billion pound note or a million pound note. That would be pointless. I will make notes that range in value depending on what I decide to value them at. It could be because of time spent or some special technique. We will see how it evolves. 
Now I know this has been done before in a way. Artist Dadara started the Exchangibition Bank. An interesting project which raises interesting questions about the value of art and indeed the value of money. His pop up banks have appeared all over Amsterdam and he has had quite a lot of press attention as a result. 
I guess you could say what I am doing is similar. Maybe my aims are a bit different. I do want to raise questions and get this discussion going within the art community. He makes reference to the fact that money is often hoarded in banks- true and not true when you consider that essentially the majority of transactions these days are done electronically with fictional money that the bank has created as a virtual deposit. In any case, I will be stock piling my money until I get to a billion. So, there will be no literal exchange of art for money or money for art when it comes to my currency. Therein lies the fundamental difference I think. Physical exchange will only occur when I get to the billion mark. For that reason, I must keep my currency stable, at the same exchange rate, regardless of what happens to the pound.
My currency is called ADM. It stands for the initials of my full name. Not very original to name a currency after me, but hey, what can I say, it is my currency so my rules right! The Adelaide Damoah. Right, so I am setting my own exchange rate against the GBP for simplicity. 
1AAD= 20 GBP
By my calculations, that means that I will have to make 50 million ADM’s in order to make £1Billion.
I still need to come up with my currency symbol. Working on that. My website logo is way to complex…
Artists, I challenge you to join me if you want. We can create our own mini economy with our own rules. This is where things could get interesting. Imagine we are all making our own currencies in our own names with our own exchange rates. We could have our own stock exchange under our own control. I wonder what would happen if we let it go to a free market economy. Would traders be trading artists currencies on some artist stock exchange in the same way as the real life stock exchange- without any real exchange of the currency. All numbers on a computer. I don’t think we should allow that to happen, but it would be interesting to see if it is evolves into something like that. To see if we would make the same mistakes as the (w)bankers. 
I think we should maintain a difference between our “system” and the banking system. The difference between us and the banking system will be that because of who we are, our notes will have real value. We are artists and each unit of currency will be unique in its own right as a piece of art and that is what will give it value. We can make up the rules as we go along. There is no time limit. I could spend the rest of my life doing this, but hopefully I will get to the Billion mark before I expire out of this world so that I can exhibit my 50 million ADM’s. 
They will not be for sale for now- I guess that means that technically, I can not call it an economy. Not until they go onto some sort of market. Anyway, it is not about that. It is about the journey. The evolution of the project. Will it grow to encompass other artists, or will it just end with me? I will keep updating on the blog with pictures of my latest note and I will figure out a way to keep an online count of what figure I am at.

Please share if you think this is interesting. Artists, please add your thoughts and join me if you want. We can create a twitter hash tag #artcurrency or #artmoney, one of those could work… It is a real tangible response to what is happening in the world today, but above all for me, it is fun!
As side note, the central banks of the world- The Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada, and Swiss National Bank- today announced that they were going to create more liquidity in the banking system. What this essentially means is that all of the major banks have been given “more money” to lend at a lower interest rate. The aim being in simple terms to encourage them to lend, as banks have been holding onto their money for fear of what could happen. Anyway, it is now cheaper to buy dollars. The markets are smiling. For now… Read about it in more detail if you like. Links at the bottom. 

I thought it was interesting that this injection of cash happened today, the day when I decided to publicise my new money project. How funny. Images of my currency coming soon…
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Studio Damoah

The Perpetual Return of IT

IT, you are not my friend or my muse right now. 

IT, you have turned into an insatiable beast, biting at my insides with increasingly sharpened teeth.

IT you have decided to hang around daily instead of the usual 10 days a month.

IT, I am beginning to hate you for all you have taken away from me.

My lover gone. Replaced by a nurse and friend.

Work done while in bed when I can open my eyes long enough to concentrate.

Social life, what social life. Networking, all out of the window. No more Insanity for me. No more exercise WTF? Travel, painful and frightening. I dare not go anywhere alone in case you decide to show your ugly face.

IT, you are jealous of my zest and passion for life, so you are trying to take it all away from me with your greedy grip on MY body and MY life.

That part of my body may be weak, but the rest of me is tough. My mind is stubborn and hard.

There is nothing I can not do. What did you expect me to lie down and die? Did you expect me to never travel, never socialise, never work ever again? I have found other ways, and I will continue to do so while simultaneously fighting your ugly arse all the way.

Oh, so now you have nothing to say. The painkillers have silenced you for a while. I’m staying on top.

IT. Jealous, selfish, evil, sadistic monster. If you think you have won, if you think I will spend the rest of my life in this bed writhing in pain and cursing your repugnant name, you have another thing coming. Bitch, I will cut you out like a cancer and reclaim my life and live it to the full once more.

Mark it on the wall.

Pleasure Pain. Oil on Canvas 2008
Pain. Oil on canvas board. 2002
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Studio Damoah

Top Arts Events and Artists to Look Out For in 2012

With new artists emerging on a consistent basis and shows opening practically every week, the sheer volume of all of this information can sometimes feel a tad overwhelming. Here are just a few of my personal favourite artists to look out for in the new year and one or two interesting and potentially important shows to attend.
Artists
If you know anything about me, you know that one of my philosophies for art is that it by its very nature, represents the spirit of the times. At this moment in our history, no other artist captures this sentiment better for me than Geoffrey Raymond. An American painter, born in 1953, Raymond is best known for painting controversial Wall Street CEO’s , placing the paintings in the street and asking passers by to write their opinions of the subjects onto the portraits using marker pens. After the announcement of the $85 billion bail out for insurance giant AIG back in 2008, Raymond sat outside the company head quarters with a portrait of its then CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. One person wrote, “Snarling rat bastard die! You suck. Love, Kim.” Utter genius, talk about capturing the spirit of the times. Really interesting and engaging work documenting our history.
the fallen prince. 2008. Geoffrey Raymond. Copyright the artist. image from artists blog.
Artist Rebecca Fontaine-Wolfe, whom I interviewed earlier this year, is another one to watch. She is still early in her career having graduated in 2004. Her style has been described as a fine balance between the photo realistic and expressionist. She is concerned with the female form and specifically with modern ideas of image, beauty and identity through beautiful and arresting portraits. A girl after my own heart. Her career is on the up and I think she she will grow significantly in 2012.

July. 2010. Oil, acrylic and resin on natural canvas (c) Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf

Maximillian Weidman is eccentric, witty, sarcastic and intelligent in his examination of pop culture, consumerism and the media. Again, the spirit of the times is evident in his work. He uses various media including sculpture, enamel on canvas and spray paint on canvas. One of my favourite pieces of his was a screen print entitled “Quantitative Easing.” It is made up of repeating one billion dollar bills (yes I did mean to say one BILLION dollar bills) with the following phrases written on them, “Love sucks, cash rules,” “Trust no one,” and my personal favourite, “The United States of Play.” Very Clever.
Max Wiedman. Quantitative Easing. Spray Paint and Silk Screen on Canvas. 2011. Image copyright the artist. Taken from artnet

Events
If you love art as much as I do then you simply must go and see Leonardo Da Vinci at the National Gallery. Open until February 2012, the show is the largest exhibition of Da Vinci’s surviving paintings ever exhibited. The exhibit focuses on the period when Da Vinci worked as a court painter in Milan.

Leonardo da Vinci. 1452-1519. The Virgin and Child. Copyright The State Hermitage Museaum St Petersburg

Unless you have been hiding under a bushel these last few weeks, you will be aware that the London 2012 Olympic posters were unveiled early in November. A number of British artists including Tracey Emin, Rachel Whiteread, Martin Creed, Chris Ofilli and Bridgit Riley designed the posters for the games. The opinions of the posters have been, shall we say varied, with some online commentators calling them “astoundingly bad,” and “incredibly lazy.” While I don’t personally like all of them, I think that was going a little far. Judge for yourself. The posters are currently on sale and will be shown in a special exhibition in the summer of 2012 as a part of a special advertising campaign for the games.

Chris Ofili. For the Unknown Runner. Copyright the artist. 2011

Links:
Rebecca Fontaine-Wolfe: http://www.rebeccafontaine-wolf.com/
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Studio Damoah

50 Years of Black Art in the African Diaspora. A Brief Overview

“The art history of the black diaspora is still an ‘undiscovered’ country,”  Kobena Mercer 2009.


Curator, writer and critic Eddie Chambers once described black art as,
“Art produced by black people, largely and specially for the black audience, and which, in terms of its content, addresses black experience.”
A definition which in a so called “Post Black” era, is not relevant to all black artists working today.
The 1960’s
The 1960’s was the decade in which a new black cultural consciousness came into being. The world saw the birth of the civil rights movement and the assassinations of its most famous figure heads, namely Malcolm X in 1965 and Martin Luther King in 1968. In an effort to align themselves with the significant changes that were taking place at the time, there was a shift in the terminology that young African Americans used to describe and identify themselves from “Negro” to the seemingly more assertive “Black.”
An unprecedented increase in the use of the media to report on world issues influenced many artists, causing them to respond to the change in the media landscape in a variety of ways. Jeff Donaldson’s satirical book, The Civil Rights Yearbook 1964, highlighted the power that the media had over public opinion on the subject of race.
In 1966, Andrew Salkey, Edward Kamau Brathwaite and John LaRose established the Caribbean Artists Movement in the UK. Active between 1966 and 1971, the group was created to help form an aesthetic informed by their own cultural heritage and to encourage recognition of West Indian art forms in the UK. The movement went on to inspire many black visual artists to produce work in this vein and included artists Ronald Moody, Errol Lloyd and Winston Branch.
The 1970’s
Many black artists of the 70’s seemed to move towards abstraction. Abstraction provided a medium through which black artists shared their mood and ideals. Artist Jack Whitten acknowledged that being “black” showed itself in his work, without actually being able to define precisely what was black about it. Frank Bowling, a Guyanese born artist, trained in the UK became most known for his controversial essays on the subject of blackness in art, especially his 1971 essay, “Is Black Art about Colour.”


Artists were afraid of depicting black people as nude until the sexual revolution of the 60’s and 70’s because of fears of being accused of being either a racist or pornographers according to Richard Powells, “Black Art A Cultural History.” The historical assumptions of social scientists that black’s were morally depraved contributed significantly to this self censorship. From then on, different artists used the black nude to conceptualise various political and social themes. Artist Dana C Chandler, in his 1971 painting used an erect black male penis, chained and depicted on the inside of a jail cell against the backdrop of a mock American flag to depict his feelings about the anxieties of the black power movement. Artist Faith Ringold examined feminist themes from a personal and political perspective through her depictions of the black female nude.


Dana C Chandler. American Penal System. 1971. Copyright Dana C Chandler

The 1980’s
1980’s was defined as the decade of art institutionalization in the African diaspora and was marked in the USA by the Smithsonian museum purchasing countless works by black artists.
In the UK, the 80’s defined a generation of artists influenced by the many political issues and events, including the 1981 Brixton riots. Artists including Claudette Johnson, Keith Piper, Donald Rodney and Marlene Smith formed the BLK Art group in response to an overriding feeling that despite achieving world wide success, it was difficult for black artists to be accepted at the top of the art establishment. In 1988, Eddie Chambers, one of the founders, curated the landmark exhibition “Black Art: Plotting the Course.” Chambers also worked with Sonia Boyce, a black British multimedia artist whose work referenced race, identity, feminism and contemporary urban culture.

Keith Piper. The Black Assassin Saints copyright Keith Piper 1982

In 1989, the all black exhibition entitled“The Other Story Afro-Asian artists in post-war Britain, shown at the Hayward Gallery, had a significant impact on the scene.
One of the most iconic black artists of the 80’s, Jean-Michel Basquiat, often used words in his neo-expressionist work which incorporated his cultural heritage. One of his most famous works produced in 1981, the “Irony of the Negro Policeman” illustrated the control that wider white American Society had over African Americans at the time.

Jean-Michel Basquiat Irony of The Negro Policeman. 1981

The 1990’s
The 1990’s was marked by the term “Post Black.” A term that curator Thelma Golden claims to have coined with artist Glenn Ligon. The term was used to define an artistic genre, including a group of artists who refused to be defined by their race, yet who examined complex notions of race and racism through their work. The movement was an attempt to include marginalised black artists into the discourse on Western Art History.
Golden went on to further examine the 90’s in the context of mass marketing by stating in an essay that “Artists live in a world where their particular cultural specificity is marketed to the planet and sold back to them.” Various artists produced work in response to mass produced marketing materials depicting racial and sexual stereotypes including African American artist Renee Cox.

Renee Cox. The Liberation of Lady J and U.B. 1998 Copyright Renee Cox

British artist Chris Offilli used his work to critically examine black popular culture, using satire to ask serious questions about society, racism and the mass marketing of dumbed down images of blackness as was illustrated in his 1996 piece Afrodizzia.

Chris Ofili. Afrodizzia second  version 1996. Copyright Chriss Offilli

2000 to Present Day
Today, there has been shift in consciousness among many black artists from producing work which was a visible symbol of the black experience to more conceptual, subtle and complex work, which declares cultural heritage while simultaneously referencing and repudiating the historical injustices associated with it.
Yinka Shonibare uses his work in complicated and challenging ways to examine various notions of identity including what it means to be African, black, British and post modern. Shonibare is known for historical installations of mannequins dressed in so called African print fabrics.

Shonibare-Scramble for Africa. 2003. Copyright Yinka Shonbare. Image courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

Significant awards have been given to black artists during this time, cementing their place in art history and recognising their contribution to it including Chris Offilli, Steve Mcqueen, Jacob Lawrence, Kerry James Marshall and Robert Colescott.
Black artists have historically used art to voice political and social concerns with little recognition from wider society. Today, they are getting more recognition than ever before and have moved on significantly from Eddie Chambers 1980’s definition of black art, but in the words of Sonia Boyce…
“…Work produced is still regarded and reduced in totality to questions of ethnicity and cultural difference, outside the historical context of contemporary art. We are working towards a time when the work displayed in exhibitions is no longer cordoned off from it’s contemporaries as a separate and marginal area of artistic production.”

Thanks to Sophia A. Jackson for asking me to write this piece for the October Black History Month edition of Lime Magazine. Without her, it would not have occurred to me to write it. 

Please comment and add anything you feel I may have missed out of this short piece. This research is by no means exhaustive.

References

Black Art, A Cultural History by Richard J. Powell. Published by Thames and Hudson World of Art 2002


Introduction to Contemporary British Art of Black and Asian Diasporas: focus on the 1980s

Leon Wainwright, Middlesex University, 2002


Variant.org:African And Asian Visual Artists Archive by Sonia Boyce
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Studio Damoah

Lillian Ogbogoh interviewed me

This evening, I was interviewed by Lillian Ogbogoh. It was a nice, friendly interview. It was strange making the transition back to being the person being interviewed.

If you have an hour to spare and are interested in an hearing what I have to say on life and art, click here. The interview was recorded live.

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Studio Damoah
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Art Success: Adelaide Damoah in Conversation with Owusu-Ankomah

I was privileged enough to interview veteran artist Owusu-Ankomah on his thoughts on success and on his up coming London exhibition. The exhibition entitled  Microcron – Kusum (Secret Signs – Hidden Meanings), is on at the October Gallery from the 15th to the 29th October 2011.

I can not remember the time when Owusu-Ankomah’s work first entered my consciousness, but it seems like it has always been there. I have marvelled at his intelligent depiction of the male form and puzzled over his use of symbols, which at first looked to me like depictions of the Adinkra symbols from the Akan printing tradition of Ghana. On closer inspection, they encompass symbolism borrowed from many different cultures. One Adinkra symbol that he referred to indirectly during the interview and which is a recurring theme in his work is “Sankofa.” This literally translates as “go back and fetch it.” Sankofa is very often depicted as a bird with its body facing forward but it’s head is facing backwards. The symbol represents the notion that in order to understand our present, we must first understand our past.
Owusu-Ankomah’s bold paintings have been exhibited worldwide and he has a list of achievements and exhibitions that would make any artist positively glow with pride. However, talking to Owusu-Ankomah, I got the distinct impression that he was not overly concerned with the obvious trappings of success as most of us view it. Owusu-Ankomah is concerned with the progression and development of human kind. He is man who believes that success is about striving for the progression of humanity and that art can help to achieve that aim. Art goes beyond what we can quantify. A deep, intellectual and philosophical man, there was no pretentiousness, no boastfulness or even willingness to take on his many achievements. Only thoughtfulness, humility, modesty and a playful sense of humour.

Owusu-Ankomah. Photo by Dagmar Calais. Image Courtesy October Gallery, London


Adelaide Damoah (AD): You have lived in Germany since 1986, why Germany?


Owusu-Ankomah (OA) : I don’t know. Someone invited me over. A friend of the family. Actually, I wanted to go to London because I like the English language and London so much from being there in 1980. When I was going to go, the friend of the family said “why don’t’ you take a look at Germany, then you can continue on.” Then what happened to me was that (laughing)after a year, I got to know my ex wife, so that is how I got to stay here. I speak fluent German. You have to in order to communicate.

AD: Did you learn German before going?

OA: No Not at all. I had nothing actually to do with Germany. It is only because the first secretary of the German Embassy in those days wanted me to have a show at the Goethe Institute which to my regret, my own fault, never took place.  A German business man bought my art work in Ghana, otherwise, I knew nothing about Germany. I had to go to university to learn the German language. After six months, I gave up as I needed time for my work. So I learned the language through reading, and I got the rudiments, the basics through listening to interviews and talk shows on the television, and you just talk to people on the street.

AD: You mentioned that you sold a painting to a German business man in Ghana. Do you remember when you sold your first painting?

OA: (Laughing) Oh, you ask questions! I was very young I think… I was 21 years old.

AD: You had your first show in 1976 right?

OA: Yes

AD: Did you sell anything at that show?

OA: I did sell a large painting to a Ghanaian doctor.

AD: At what point did you consider yourself to be a full time professional artist?

OA: I decided emphatically to be an artist. I started painting professionally after coming out of the Ghanatta College of Art at 18 years of age. I dedicated my entire life to it. I had my first one man show at 19, that means I started painting professionally at 18.

AD: At that point were you able to make a full time living?

OA: No, not at all! (laughs). I had some support from my parents. It is through my parents that I came to this country. I did not want to. What they did was to pull away every little bit of support, so that I became totally helpless because they thought I could not make a living out of my art. In those days in Ghana, no way, it was virtually impossible without the support of my parents. So this is what they did and they succeeded to get me away from Ghana (laughs).

AD: (Laughing) So, they did that, they pushed you away from Ghana to encourage your career and force you to stand up on your own?

OA: Yes

Owusu-Ankomah, Microcron – Kusum No.4, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 135 X 175 cm. Photo Copyright Joachim Fliegner. 



AD: What does success in the art world mean to you?

OA: Recognition, being taken seriously. You then have a responsibility. This is what I think every successful person should realise. You have a very serious responsibility towards society concerning your ideas. Concerning what you say. I have a great concern for humanity at the moment. Where are we going with our present form of development? Where are we going in the future? My last catalogue was titled Future Track

AD: So as an artist, you are almost taking on this responsibility…

OA: It is automatic, because as an artist, you have taken upon yourself the responsibility to go into the unknown which is our imagination, to bring forth something as a gift for humanity. Because when people look at an art work, it does something to the unconsciousness. So that the artist, automatically, becomes a prophet, he becomes a shaman, he becomes a philosopher. A painter who suggests the way that humanity should go. This is what an artist is. That is why I paint.

AD: That is deep!

OA: (Laughing) Life is deep Adelaide! Life is very deep…

AD: So based on your criteria for success, which is having recognition, being taken seriously and also taking on this responsibility, this huge responsibility onto your shoulders of producing something which is  going to affect the subconscious of humanity, do you consider yourself to be a success?

OA: Well I am trying to be successful, that is it. That is the difference. You see, being successful and being successful in what you do are two different things. Are you successful in transporting your message? How do people receive this message? Do they say “aha, oh my God, I never thought about this.”

AD: So what are you trying to say in your work? Your most recent work, the work that is going to be shown at the October Gallery.

OA: Kusum, is a Ghanaian word, a Twi word. Kusum literally means “a place of mystery.” It is a place where the gods meet. It is a place of ritual. All these places that I’m mentioning are not local. It is in us. It is in our consciousness, that is Kusum in itself. It is in our consciousness that we go on this journey of discovery. But then, life becomes a ritual. All the small things that we do in life are rituals. Saying the right things. Because if you are a shaman, if you are a magician,  then you must have the right mixture of potions, the right mixture of ritual language … So life in itself is a ritual in which we must perform well and perform humbly, in that we respect the other, and love the other. These are so basic, so simple, that it sometimes sounds simplistic, so it might not be taken seriously. If we take these road signs for the future seriously, I tell you, we can change the world! If the politician would handle his duties with respect and with dedication, to bear witness to the truth, like the artist should also do, to know what is good for humanity and for the future of humanity, then it is pouring libation and saying the right words in the daily rituals of life. That for me is also Kusum. But Kusum is also a sub title for my new series of work which is called the Microcron. 

Owusu-Ankomah, Microcron – Kusum No.1, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 135 X 170 cm. Photo Copyright Joachim Fliegner. 



AD: Yes…

OA: The Microcron is a word that I created myself. The Microcron is… As we journey from the microscopic, up to the macroscopic, and now comes another word that I created myself, to the ultramacroscopic worlds. We have solar systems, we have stars, we have galaxies, we have the universe and what is new on the block. Physicists talk about universes. I come and I say OK, there are dimensions of universes. All of these culminate into a ball of light and these balls of light are in systems. Circular systems, circling each other, until these systems reach infinity and that is the Microcron.

AD: OK, so your piece on the October Gallery website- where there are lots of symbols in the background with a male figure, almost like an optical illusion appearing to come out of the piece. How does the viewer interpret that? Someone who does not know anything about the Adinkra symbols or you made up words… How do you want the viewer to interpret that work?

OA: If you look carefully, you will recognise only a few Adinkra symbols. The other symbols have been taken out of other cultures. I use symbols for Crop Circles, wonderful pictograms which can be found in fields all over the world. I have introduced of late Sacred Geometry in my compositions and the Crop Circles are based on this ancient geometrical principle. The figure in that painting has his right hand as if resting on a symbol and at the same time, pointing to these balls of light, the gold and red. That is the symbol of the Microcron. Each circle in the circle contains universes. This is a symbol for me of our togetherness. It is also a symbol of over abundance of life and reality. So we should all sit in a circle and share. Share all we have. Our ideas, our visions and our hopes. That is one thing. But the Adinkra symbols… I am trying to form a universal language. That is why I create my own symbols, I borrow other symbols from other cultures and bring them together. In doing that, I am saying that we are all one. All of humanity, we are one, and you Adelaide, you are humanity. I am humanity. Together, we are humanity. We are all one people. It goes so far that today mystics, and quantum physicists say, if you come to the basic level of reality, consciousness, there is only one human on this planet. Collectively, we are one. So this is what my work is about Adelaide. 



AD: Do you think that if I sit in front of that painting for some time, the meaning will seep into my subconscious  So even if I am not consciously aware of the meaning because I have not spoken to you, I will be able to gain some sort of understanding of the meaning?

OA: Of course. It will impress upon you that this painting has a message. The other thing is, our thoughts are powerful and what I put in there, you can understand subconsciously, even if you consciously think you have not understood anything. But you will have an impression of a positive energy on your consciousness and this I think was your first impression. An aura of positivity. 

AD: So going back to the subject of success…

OA: Art IS success. To constantly have the energy to try to change all that is around you for the better, for me, that is success. To never give up. To have this dream to give yourself and others a positive change.  Because presently Adelaide, WE ARE NOT DOING WELL. The whole world is not doing well. If we kill for oil, then we are not doing well are we?

AD: No

OA: OK. But there is a solution. Why don’t we seek the solution and make the world a better place for us? 

AD: Why don’t we?

OA: Yes, why don’t we? So this is what I am trying to point to. 

Owusu-Ankomah, Thinking the Microcron No.2, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 120 X 140 cm. Photo Copyright Joachim Fliegner. 



AD: Going back to your personal artistic achievements, just going by what I have read, which can only be a small fragment of what you have achieved, obvious things like the Armani Red campaign, the FIFA commission, the numerous exhibitions all around the globe stand out… A lot of people would consider those things to be major achievements.

OA: Of course it is an achievement. But for me, that alone is not true success. True success for me is to have the courage and the ability… Now listen carefully, and the ability to LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY. For me, that is the ultimate true success. That is for me the success story. If you have the ability to love unconditionally, then of course, you have the ability to strive for the prosperity of humanity. So that my art and my success as an artist, goes beyond what we can really positively quantify.

AD: With material goods…

OA: Yes.

AD: What advice would you give an up and coming artist, in light of everything that you have done in the art world? Do you have any specific secrets which explain how you have achieved some of these physical things to date?

OA: I think before a young artist can truly have success, he needs to be truly dedicated to what she or he is doing and have a passion for art. To try to create art by hook or by crook. To dream about it. To work at it. To have a personal style. A personal message. To me, that is the true success in art. To become a true artist, you must have a passion. Forget about all the financial success. That will come later, but you must have a passion for art. 

AD: Do you think that everything you have achieved to date is a result of all of those things and your decision at the age of 19 to completely dedicate yourself to art? Right now, apart from the fact that the world is going crazy,  there are so many artists who are struggling to carve out a career for themselves. You have mentioned having that drive and that passion and the will to produce art by hook or by crook. There are plenty of artists that do that, but they are still struggling to eat on a daily basis. So what do you think is your secret? Because, it is not everybody that is going to make it, even if they do all of the things that you have stated.

OA: OK, I understand now… I think, they should not be afraid. They should not be afraid and I will come to that fear later. They should have the preparedness. They should be prepared to expire out of this world like Van Gogh or like Picasso. There is the middle way, but I will go to the extremes. They should accept it. Die like Van Gogh or die like Picasso. But the most important thing is that I think there is a possibility to overcome a fear. This possibility lies, I always come back to this, lies with the ability to strive for perfection. Perfection in their art, as they are able to create and perfection as they strive to love the other. That is the only secret. That is the path that I have gone on, that I have walked, I am always trying to.

AD: Do you think your willingness to strive for perfection and your willingness to love the other as you say are the reasons why perhaps you have got to this place and there are many others that have not?

OA: Perhaps, I don’t know. I remember a colleague once telling me, “most of us, we force our way to get attention, but you seem not to at all. What is your secret?” What I said was that I just “let be.” I trust, I  try to eschew fear, I let things happen. I allow. Someone was telling me that there is a basic law of acceptance. Allow. Let it be. Do your best and the rest will follow. 

Owusu-Ankomah, Microcron – Kusum No.3, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 135 X 170 cm. Photo Copyright Joachim Fliegner. 



Wise words from a wise man. Owusu-Ankomah’s work will be on show at the following galleries over the coming months:
Further reading:

Special thanks to Sophia Jackson of Lime Magazine for giving me the opportunity to interview Mr Owusu–Ankomah. An abridged version of the interview can be found on page 11 of the September edition of Lime Magazine which can be found here.


Thanks to Alana of October Gallery and of course special thanks to Owusu-Ankomah for taking the time to do the interview.






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