Goodman Gallery has announced the representation of the estate of late Ghanaian painter Atta Kwami, in partnership with London’s Beardsmore Gallery. Kwami, who lived and worked between the U.K. and his native Ghana until his death in 2021, was posthumously awarded the Maria Lassnig Prize the same year. A new solo exhibition of the artist’s work will be held at Goodman Gallery’s Cork Street location in London this May.
Born in 1956, Kwami was a prolific creator whose work spanned large-scale public art commissions and solo exhibitions at renowned institutions such as the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, and Kunsthalle Basel. His work, defined by colorful geometric abstractions, drew inspiration from Ghanaian architecture and the strip-woven textile traditions made famous by the Ewe and Asante people. These blocky color fields, often arranged in idiosyncratic assemblages, became known as “Kusami Realism,” which was heavily influenced by the rhythms of African music and jazz improvisation.
On the 16th of May 2024, Kwami’s first solo exhibition with Goodman Gallery will open at the Cork Street space in London, and will be showcasing paintings spanning twenty years, from 1999-2019. This will be alongside a Kiosk structure – the architectural scale works that make reference to the improvised vernacular of Ghanaian street painting.
The exhibition will expound the range of influences on Kwami’s practice, from Ewe and Assante Kente cloth, to the tradition of mural painting, and the design of street kiosks in Ghana. Kwami’s work is also inspired by his extensive travel across the African continent. This Spring, Serpentine alongside The Maria Lassnig Foundation will publish a monograph about Kwami, marking this the first publication dedicated to examining the breadth of Kwami’s singular practice.
