I was glad to have a second chance to visit Ghana in November 2022.
I had been there before Covid and had done a few studio visits of Ghanaian
eminent artists and as always intrigued with the workspaces of artists, had
planned to do the same this time as well, along with other activities. November and December were a complete art
treat for me as there were many exhibitions taking place in the city of Accra,
the capital of Ghana. Met old artist friends and met some new artists as well.
One exhibition I attended was of contemporary artist Larry Otoo. During my last
visit to Ghana, I didn’t get time to visit his studio so I got a confirmation
of studio visit when I met him at the exhibition.
Part of the elite group of
renowned artists in Ghana today, Larry Otoo likes to refer to himself as a “contemporary
traditionalist”. His subject matter is inspired by the everyday activities of ordinary
Ghanaians. His vibrant paintings in oil and acrylic capture the rhythm and beat
of daily life. Otoo has a unique passion for jazz music, a theme prolifically
expressed in his works.
Otoo holds a Master’s Degree in African Art and
Comparative Literature from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology. He has been making art since he was a child, when he used to be
scolded for drawing in charcoal on the walls. Otoo has held exhibitions in
Africa, Europe, and the USA. He is widely collected and has an international
following. He has held exhibitions in Africa (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria),
Europe (The Netherlands, Great-Britain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and
Spain), Canada, the USA and Japan. His paintings decorate Ghana’s presidential suite
and Ghana’s chancery in Washington, D.C.
It was a real pleasure to meet a
warm personality like Larry Sir. His studio was an extended room of his house.
I was caught by the colorful and textured canvases in the room. The room was
filled with canvases, books, music and I was very amused with his passion for
shoes. The informal chat with Larry Sir was very interesting and inspiring for
me as an artist.
Thank you for giving me time to visit your studio. To start with,
we would like to know about you and your artistic background.
I grew up in the coastal area of Ghana. My childhood was amidst the area which were once British colonies like James Town and part of Korle
Bu area. I came from a family of an artistic
background, my grandfather was a goldsmith, my
grandmother a priestess and mom a seamstress. I stayed in the community area
where we all shared things as a family. The first experience of my artistic abilities was when I used to draw on the white
walls with charcoal. My grandfather sometimes
put me in the storage barrels as punishment for ‘dirtying’ his white painted
fence walls with doodling in charcoals as a child. They say I was very
inquisitive thinking that I may become a lawyer in future.
When in school, I
was very interested in the people who could draw and would try to learn from
them. Since my father was a civil
servant, we kept moving from one place to another and in the process, I got exposed to different forms of culture and
ethnic groups. I grew to love Jazz when my father bought me a musical air piece
which was mostly Jazz, but never got the opportunity to learn this music as my father could not afford the
musical lessons. So, I ended up rather painting and drawing musical
instruments. That’s how I was influenced by music. My other influences
were the fashion magazines as my mother being a seamstress
used to have them a lot. In High School, with my art teacher’s guidance I applied to the art
school and that’s how I ended up in Kwame Nkrumah University.
How did you develop your style of
painting?
While growing up, my family moved
through different agricultural stations. I got fascinated by women, the way they carry their child on
their back, the way they carry the basket on their head. At the same time, I was learning in the books
about Masai women with long necks. This influenced me to draw
women with long necks and large
eyes. I got attracted to the colorful market when I used to follow my mom in the market. Attracted to those colors, I began to experiment
with crayons. Now when I sit back and reflect,
I feel it was divine guidance. In art school we are taught to paint in a certain way. Certain colors
when put together they clash. But I decided on
not mixing the colors and keeping it raw to keep the vibrancy in my paintings.
In these art schools you are taught to paint in a specific
way and some artists do create the works in
that way, the works that sell. Is that a determining factor in your creativity?
To some extent I will say yes. I
come from a well-to-do family, had a good education but my father was a disciplined man who believed that after a certain age you need to take care of your finances. So, in my quest
to be able to take care of myself, I developed
a habit of doing good artworks that will sell well, though it was quite difficult in those days. I visited many places to see the art like The Loom gallery and the
National Museum. In those days, Ambassador hotel now Movenpick allowed
us to exhibit on their compound. I tried to sell
my works there and earn pocket money for
myself. At that time, I had just started the textural work. I developed this
style and showed it for the first time at
Ambassador Hotel and all my works got sold and that was a lot of money. That’s
when I told myself that this is what I want to continue doing but my dad wanted me to pursue economics. For a long
period, we were not cordial with each other as
he wasn't aware when I applied to art school.
But I was determined and knew that art was my future and it paid well. My
passion was to create things and I was glad that I could paint.
Then I started reading about Van
Gogh, Picasso and others and they influenced me to a great extent. I started adopting them in an African setting.
So that’s how you navigated
through the art world?
Yes. I would show my works at
places and also to some people individually. Sometimes people would ask
for me at the exhibitions to see more of my new works. This encouraged me to
create more.
You call yourself a contemporary traditionalist, may I ask the reason behind this
title?
I didn’t give myself this title.
Each time I was interviewed they would say I paint
contemporary themes but in traditional settings like festivals, musical events etc., so I thought it’s a good way to put myself forth and it is true to my way
of painting. I am an artist who normally paints
traditional things in modern settings unlike some artists who paint in a
very naïve traditional way, not looking at the
influence of modern adaptations in society. I
look at everything in a contemporary setting. Who is going to record it
as it is now? That’s my approach. Somebody did it in
the past and somebody will do it in future,
I am recording now. The contemporary is relative to the situation
I live in now. I am painting the culture as it erodes.
Are you looking at, reading or
listening to music to fuel your work?
I used to read a lot of books but
now I don’t get time due to commissions, functions to attend and travel. If I can't read, I watch documentaries
and fashion shows. As far as possible, I try to get
myself updated with what is happening around me. Our society is very vibrant
with colorful activities, events, colorful settings and experiences
that people go through. All the activities happening around are registered in
my mind. While painting I get influenced by
a whole lot of things that take place in
society. Whatever I see gets recorded in my mind.
Do you sketch whenever you visit the places and see the activities
happening there? How will you describe the subject matter?
As I said everything is recorded in my mind. Sometimes I
take photos for my reference. We were taught to
do sketching when in school, but I got bored
at some point. I have a mind that records, so when I come back from places, I start
painting. I like to create that immediate
feeling. Sketching is done in the mind. When I stand back and look at the
initial brush strokes, I see colors, forms in
a geometric way, in a calculated mathematical
setting. On my canvas through the colorful brushstrokes, now I see the wooden stool in the market, the human
figures etc., all in either vertical or horizontal form. That’s how my mind
works. You see as the eyes tell you and the
mind registers. This is how I work. Every artist has a way of looking at
things and that’s why art and music should not be a
competition. Everybody has a way of telling
his/her story. I tell in my contemporary traditional way. Contemporary will
tell you that I am not living in the books and I am flexible. My formula for
painting is to keep observing. When I apply brush strokes,
some naïve person will first see it as color
strokes but my mind is coding these strokes.
Now we are coming to
the process of your painting. Kindly continue. It's very interesting.
Yes, you start with the colors and start looking at it in positive and negative forms. Colors are rampantly placed and then I start seeing images from
it. What I want to see, I make it happen.
I read that you limit your color palette with
only 3 primary colors, do you still do that?
I decided to move away from too
much yellow and use a subdued
palette, a pastel approach. I am not always predictable in terms of using
primary colors in limited forms. I shift between
the primary and secondary palette. I don’t want my
paintings to be boring and predictable.
In how many days do you finish a
painting?
Sometimes painting can take 4 months until it's finally done. The large ones can sometimes take 5 years to complete. My mind keeps coding the color strokes on that canvas every now and then but the smaller ones I can finish in 48 hours.
When do you think that a painting
is finished?
At times people come to buy a painting which is still in its initial state. It is appealing to them as there is harmony in the painting. It will look complete when framed but for me the idea of composition is not yet complete. Because I find in my colors some shapes that will give meaning to the painting. But people like to buy it due to the abstract form of it. One cannot say it is complete until it's signed. I have made a mistake of overworking during a commissioned work and my work was rejected by the client as they didn’t like it. So, if sometimes people like to buy the painting as it is, I do not touch the painting again.
Do you work on multiple canvases
at the same time? Do you work in series?
I am quite busy with deadlines, commissions and travels. So, in order to not waste much time, I work on multiple canvases. Depending on my mood I can work at different times of the day. Yes, I do work in series.
You are a studio-based artist,
what does a physical space mean for your process and how much time do you spend
in the studio?
I work inside the
studio as well as outside. When in the studio I am protected from natural things like mosquitoes, rain,
sun etc. I can also listen to the music
when I am indoors, so it depends whether I paint
inside or outside the studio.
Have you ever had to deal with
rejection or have you ever given up? And how do you tackle it?
I still face rejection. During commissions,
for reasons like budget, or the client didn’t like it or the painting is not
fitting in the environment. There was a time when
nobody came to my exhibition except my family. There are so many experiences I
have gone through but every step I learn and move on. I overcame the challenges. I am humble enough to say that I make
mistakes and I cannot always have my own way. I work in an environment where
there is healthy competition. So you have to
find your space and have to live in a situation where you love your passion and
at the same time you admire other people. For me, every challenge is always a
learning process.
Artists of your generation worked
very hard, with dedication unlike some young artists. What do you say about
it?
The upcoming generation is into
that type of painting like American painter Kehinde who is best known for
portraits in the traditional settings of Old Master painting. They have adopted
this style because it sells in several thousands. Collectors are looking at that type
of art and so the younger generation is copying this style and making
money. But you cannot blame them as the economy
in Ghana is very challenging. They want short cuts for success and this trend is reflecting on lack of patience, eagerness to make it quickly. Life
has become very fast paced and they don’t have
patience to establish themselves.
Images from Larry Sir’s recent exhibition “Facades”
What are your thoughts on the
developing art scene in Ghana?
In the post-colonial
period, visual art wasn’t the official way of projecting ourselves in the
outside world, it was mainly through performing arts. Now the collection has become sophisticated. Country is spearheading the
trend of the new face of art. There is dynamism. Artists like Ibrahim Mahama and
some young artists are into more of visual dialogues through their
installations, questioning society and the studio type of painting. People are
asking what’s new and they will provide what’s new. It's more of a dialogue
between work and society. It’s happening, people are noticing art.
(There was a pile of shoes of Larry Sir. He mentioned that he has
a passion for
collecting a variety of shoes and he says that is
also a type of installation).
When people see this pile, they
start questioning and that’s how the dialogue starts. Now they have forgotten
the canvas, and are thinking of form, space and the arrangement. That's the new form of art. Art is more into the design part of work.
Do you think that Ghana has enough
infrastructure to support the talent produced here?
My answer is no. We have always mourned
this fact and have tried in our own ways and on different platforms, to bring this issue up
for the powers to listen. Because of our economic situation, when it
comes to art, the level of thinking is not
sophisticated. We haven’t come to the realization that art can be a place to
study aesthetics and can be an appreciation of
who we are in terms of identity. Our research
shows us that there is not enough infrastructure to confine our treasures to
showcase what we as people have endeavored. We need a space where tourists can see the things made in Ghana. Ghana is the largest country to
produce cocoa but we don’t even have a cocoa museum. We have enough versatile production of products like Kente
and Stools, to create enough money to run the country. We haven't
realized how much potential Africa has in art but all we think is about comfort and greed.
Have you ever thought of doing art
practice outside Ghana?
I did have
an opportunity but the longest I can stay is 4-6
months. I have a growing family and I have to be here with them so my stay is
limited.
What do you think of Art Fairs and
Residencies? Have you participated in any of these?
Yes, I love Art Fairs. Fairs have a lot
of variety under one umbrella showcasing intelligent works. I have participated
in a few Fairs. Residencies help to bring out a different aspect of you and
your work. You are free to think only
about art and your work. I did a residency in Vermont, got an opportunity in Jamaica and in Italy.
With Larry Sir at his exhibition
titled “Facades”, at Artist Alliance Gallery, Accra, Ghana
What are upcoming projects?
I have upcoming exhibitions in Spain, Morocco and if
everything goes well in the USA as well. Sometimes
I go for the openings while sometimes I send the works.
What will be your piece of advice
for the upcoming artists in Ghana?
I would like to give 3 advices to the
younger generation:
• They have to be disciplined.
• They have to love what they are doing.
• They have to work consistently.
Thank you for your precious time,
Larry Sir.
Born in Accra, Ghana in 1956, Larry Otoo lives and works
in Accra, Ghana.
