Babs
“I started having an interest in arts since my infancy around the age of five years when I used to trace pictures and later practice drawing by sketches. It became my hobby. I was motivated to become an artist today by Sam Francisco, when he imparted his knowledge in me. I started painting film posters with him in 1994.”
Born 1975, Ghana, West Africa. Apprentice of Francisco and adept practitioner of Africatta’s “master stroke”—the Kumasi airbrush style. One of the “Kumasi Four.” Achieves the effect of great detail without any visible brushstrokes. Uses explosive combinations of vibrant color and action images. The smoothness and seeming textural simplicity of the airbrush style are always challenged by his penchant for creating complex, often overlapping compositions. More of a micro detail style than the other airbrush devotees. Prefers single flour sack format, the “one-bagger.” Still paints the occasional movie poster today, having begun work within the genre in the mid-1990s. Prefers bold color combinations such as orange and blue, red and black. Most posters have a single color border. Uses dramatic blue white light to enhance highlights. Does well with praise portraits of international celebrities.
Selected Exhibitions
1999: Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles
2001: Death-Stalking Sleep-Walking Barbarian Ninja Terminators: Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, Los Angeles, (voted best exhibition of 2001 by LA Weekly)
2001 – 2002: Extreme Canvas: Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles
2001: “Extreme Canvas”, Cavin Morris Gallery, New York, NY, September 2001
2004: Africa Screams, Iwalewa-Haus Afrikazentrum der Universitat Bayreuth, 2004
Traveled to Vienna November 2004 – February 2005
2006: Extreme Canvas, Center for African American Culture, Pittsburgh, PA
2006: Serpents, Mermaids and Action Heroes, Parkland College Art Gallery, Champaign, IL
2007: “Black Like We”, Feldman-Horn Gallery, Harvard-Westlake School, North Hollywood, CA
2009: “Out of Africa: Obama and McCain Praise Portraits and Visual Narratives”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles; Reviewed in the Los Angeles Times on May 21, 1999, by art critic David Pagel
2009: “No This Is It: Michael Jackson, 25 Years of Praise Portraits”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles
2012: “Michael Jackson in the After-Life: Praise Portraits and Commentary Paintings from Ghana”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles
2013: Wow Women, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles
2013: The Horror The Horror!, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, curated by Brandon Boyd
2013: “Viva Mandela!”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles
2014: Knock Off – Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA
2014: “Ghana Pop”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles
2014: Continental Convergence: Hand-Painted Martial Arts Posters from Ghana, Mandarin Plaza, Chinatown, Los Angeles
2017 - 2018: Ghana Paints Hollywood: Hand Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT curated by Ernie Wolfe III
2019 – 2020, Baptized by Beefcake: The Golden Age of Hand Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Poster House, New York, NY co-curated by Ernie Wolfe III and Angelina Lippert
2019 – 2020, Praise Portraits from Ghana: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles
PUBLICATIONS:
2009: African Arts, Volume 42, number 3, 20, Autumn 2009, “The Radiance of the King”, Don Cosentino
2012: Extreme Canvas 2: The Golden Age of Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Ernie Wolfe III, Kesho/Malaika Press, 2012