67 - † THEOPHILUS TETTEH (GHANAIAN B.1991)

† THEOPHILUS TETTEH (GHANAIAN B.1991) WHEN YOU'RE WEAK, I AM STRONG signed Nii Odoi lower right acrylic on canvas 190.5 x 142.2cm unframed Property from a Private Collection, London Provenance Acquired from KO Art & Acquired from the above in 2022 by the present owner Theophilus Tetteh, who works under the name Nii Odoi, is a Ghanaian figurative painter living and working in Accra. He studied Graphic Design and Painting at Marimus Art School, whilst continuing to experiment with different media. After finding solace in the pictorial possibilities that Expressionism offered, he found figurative paintings the most effective vehicle to explore the emotive qualities of life. His figures which often appear static and singular, are in fact dynamic entities of the local culture. Using raw, near-primary colour and swift, impastoed brushwork to convey the psychological tensions of his subjects,Tetteh condenses the internal sentiments and tensions of his characters and focuses them, using the eyes as the outlet for expression. In this way his subjects become independent bodies, bold and daring. By examining the psychological conditions we as humans are prone to experience, and then exhibiting them through physiological manifestations of that experience, Tetteh’s work is processual in nature, approaching each personality with care and consideration. His experiments are not only in content but in form, colour, and texture, manipulating paint through swift brush strokes and thick impasto. Tetteh has participated in solo shows and group projects across Ghana, notably the Kente Design Project for Kejetia Market (Kumasi, 2017) and National Theatre of Ghana (Accra, 2018). He was recently awarded Artist of the Year (2021) by the BE OPEN Foundation and is also a member of the Ghana Association of Visual Artists (GAVA).