Work by Professor Daniel Kojo Schrade Appears in New Book on Contemporary Ghanaian Art
Ghana is at the forefront of a renewed interest in African art. A dynamic new collection contains essays by renowned scholars alongside an array of artist statements and artwork, including that of Hampshire Professor of Art Daniel Schrade.
New Perspectives - Contemporary Art from Ghana (Nuvo Publishing/Untamed Empire) presents reflections on an art scene that is effervescent and multi-faceted. It surveys the work of 60 contemporary artists from across different generations, interests, and backgrounds working in various mediums.
The artists’ statements and essays about their work and influences are supplemented with critical essays by experts on modern African art, such as renowned art historian Kobena Mercer, Spanish art curator Elvira Dyangani Ose, and British-Ghanaian Social Psychologist Ama de-Graft Aikins. These essays give a theoretical context and historical overview of Ghanaian contemporary art and the institutions and art professionals who have helped develop the Ghanaian art world and its infrastructure into what it is today.
Says Schrade, “It is very exciting to see my work reviewed next to high caliber artists like Ibrahim Mahama, El Anatsui, and Zohra Opoku.”
His work combines abstract, non-representational compositions with conceptually-based text and figurative fragments into painting and drawing. The motifs and texts he focuses on appear in repetition and are worked out through various series. They originate from multiple cultural contexts, and through their integration into his artwork, become part of his personal and cultural archive. Major repeated motifs in his work are ‘Afronauts,’ which he describes as “dis-located characters who create and control their own image spaces, where they claim the power to define themselves and to re-negotiate identity ascriptions.”
Although the initial intent was to highlight the work of some 50 artists, the project expanded exponentially to cover well over 60 artists and offers an insight into the diversity of artistic expression from Ghana. There will be a second volume to this book.
Daniel Schrade received an M.F.A. from the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Germany. His paintings and installations have been presented internationally, including at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Oaxaca, Mexico; Alliance Francais in Kumasi, Ghana; Haus der Kunst in München, Germany; Muzej Grada in Rijeka, Croatia; and the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. He has taught painting at the Kwame Nkrumah University in Ghana, the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and the College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor.
Schrade was a Copeland Fellow at Amherst College and has received grants and awards from the Cusanuswerk Foundation in Bonn, Germany; the Academy of Fine Arts Munich; and the District Government of Bavaria. His work is represented in various permanent collections such as those of the Museo de Cuenca, Spain; MACO, Mexico; the Bayerische Staatsgemäeldesammlung, Munich; Collection Diehl, Silvaplana-Swiss; and Collection Morat, Freiburg-Germany.
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