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PROFILE OF AN AFRICAN ARTIST
An Art Genius on the Continent - Andrews Afranie Boakye ilustrates that Ghana has many hidden talents......
Born
in Kumasi,
in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, Andrews Afranie Boakye discovered his talent as an artist at a quite an early age. At the
age of 16, he took part in an art exhibition held by his Junior High School art master.
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| Andrews at work in his studio |
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| Finished oil portrait painting on canvas (framed) |
After his elementary education at De Youngsters International
School, where he participated as an active member in the art club, he continued to Suhum Secondary Technical School. Whilst there, he won a full
government scholarship in his visual art class. This scholarship virtually covered all his school fees throughout his three-year
course study.
A year upon Andy Afranie’s completion,
he enrolled at West African Computer Science Institute (WACSI) to add a bit of Information Technology knowledge to his art
potentials.
That same year, he gained admission into
the University of Ghana
– Legon, to offer a degree program in Philosophy and Psychology. Under these programs, he read courses such as Philosophy
of Art, African Philosophy, Organizational Psychology and Psychology in Advertising etc.
Whilst pursuing his Bachelor of Arts
course at Legon in his level 300 (3rd year), he simultaneously enrolled at Vision Art School to pursue an Advanced
Diploma course in Painting and Graphic Designing for one and half years. At his graduation from Vision Art School,
Andy Afranie was awarded the overall best student in Painting.
He has also worked with a number of advertising
companies, Ads – Leo Burnett being one of them.
Currently, Mr. Andy Afranie has graduated from the
University of Ghana
– Legon and is now the Managing Director of his Company POTRIT Media and Art
Gallery. His company offers services such as graphic designing, advertising, portrait paintings, abstract paintings, drawings
& illustrations. As a young enthusiastic entrepreneur, he has built other powerful brands such as “Wear Potrit” which he explains in his company’s clothing line.
When asked where his inspiration comes from, he
reiterated, “God is the mother of creativity. The Holy Spirit in me generates the artistic
ideas with passion and the passion enables me to produce the beautiful artworks.”
He enjoys listening to interviews of personalities,
listening to good music and motivational speakers at his leisure time.
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| At Work in his studio |
HIS TECHNIQUE OF PAINTING
Though his clients know him well as a versatile
artist, he personally believes that his art of painting portraits has been the hallmark of his great talent.
In his abstract paintings, he adopts the brush strokes
and palette knife impasto technique. In his portraiture, he uses the smooth oil blending style where he replicates any picture
with 101% precision and resemblance within 48hrs. He also paints live portraits upon the client’s request. Most of his
works are in oil and acrylic paints on canvas.
With “Wear
Potrit”, his designer clothing line, he customizes shirts and blouses for his clients by painting their portraits,
names and designs in them.
HIS PORTFOLIO
In his portfolio are hundreds of classic contemporary
abstract African paintings with titles such as ‘Friends Together’, ‘The Returnee’, ‘Enough For
The Day’, ‘Atongo’, ‘Dagati melodies’ etc.
In his portrait paintings portfolio, phenomenal
paintings of J.A. Kuffour (President of the Republic of Ghana), President George Bush, Kofi Annan, Queen Elizabeth II, Mr.
Paul Wolfowitz, Pastor Mensah Otabil, Kojo Antwi and Obour (Ghanaian musicians), Parliamentarians, Ministers of State etc
are seen. He has also painted hundreds of portraits of a lot of private clients.
He has held a number of art exhibitions at Wisconsin University, Trade Fair, Accra International Conference Centre, University of Ghana – Legon etc.
If you would like Andrew to paint your portrait painted contact us
Now, Africa
A new LACMA gallery shows African art as more than influence.
By Anne-Marie O'Connor, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
WHEN museums display African art and Modern art together, they
generally do so to illustrate how seeing Africa's arresting masks and fantastic figures helped Picasso and other Modern artists
escape the constraints of Realism and move into Cubism, Surrealism and Dadaism.
But in a new gallery at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, African art is framed as a contemporary art form in its own right, not just an aesthetic enabler for
a century of Modern artists. "Tradition as Innovation in African Art," curated by Polly Nooter Roberts, an African art expert
at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, is the debut of a partnership between the museums that will display African works in a prominent
space at the plaza entrance to the Ahmanson Building's Modern art collection. For more click here
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