Art: Atta Kwami

Amedzofe 2007

Kpong 2006

Harmonium 2001

"The starting point of my inspiration is my environment. Many of my images have been shaped by my experiences of Atonsu Agogo, a commercial/workshop area in Kumasi, close to my studio. My works are not transpositions of African or European images but become new and real entities brought about by material concerns. The Ewe saying "All things belong to the earth" with its animistic connotations has implications for my art practice." Atta Kwami

Artist and academic, Atta Kwami was born in Accra in 1956. He lives and works in Kumasi, where he is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Painting & Sculpture at the College of Art, KNUST [Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi]. He studied painting at the College of Art in Kumasi from 1976 to 1980, gaining a BA and has taught at the college since 1986. He has made many international teaching visits as Visiting Lecturer to universities in England, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria -and he gained an M.Phil in African Art in 1992 and was Fellow in Printmaking at Chelsea College of Art & Design, The London Institute in 1992/93.

Atta Kwami has exhibited extensively around the world [including: 2002/03 Nicolas Krupp Contemporary Art Gallery, Basel, Switzerland 2001 Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland 2001 Beardsmore Gallery, London 2000 L´Alliance Francaise de Kumasi, Ghana 1999 Lake Naivasha Studios, Naivasha, Kenya 1998/99 National Museum of Ghana, Accra 1996 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1995 Newtown Galleries, Johannesberg 1995 Beardsmore Gallery, London 1994/95 Point of View Gallery, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA 1993 Castle Museum Nottingham, UK 1980 British Council, Accra, Ghana].
*Note -The above artworks are a small sample of Atta Kwami's work -and can be purchased from the, Howard Scott Gallery at:www.howardscottgallery.com