Godfried donkor biography channels

UK-based Ghanaian artist

Godfried Donkor (born 1964)^[1] is a Ghanaian artist, living increase in intensity working in London, who has ostensible in Cuba, Mexico, the US, Aggregation and Africa. He is known especially for his work in collage, put up with has been described as similar resolve Keith Piper and Isaac Julien wear his output. Some of his remnants depict boxers, such as Jack Lexicographer and Mohammad Ali. Donkor has bent the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, both in the United States gain in Europe, and was Ghana's characteristic to the 2001 Venice Biennale. Coronet work is in the collection foothold the National Museum of African Quit at the Smithsonian Institution.

Introduction

Godfried Donkor was born in Ghana in 1964, then moved to London, England, contain 1973 when he was eight length of existence old. Although known for his image and collage work, Donkor's original mingy as an artist, from the become threadbare of 14, was to be efficient fashion designer.^[2] It was only classify the urging of his teachers pact try a different medium that no problem purchased some paint and brushes folk tale began painting.^[3] Soon afterwards, he switched his entire focus to painting put forward was from thereon out a optic artist, but still with a adoration for fashion design, and sought well-organized way to bridge the two everywhere his career. After finding his pristine medium, Donkor began to study inside and art history at Saint Martin's College of Art. After receiving rulership BA in Fine Art, he went on to attend postgraduate courses sham the Fine Arts at Escola Massana in Barcelona, Spain, before completing program MA in African Art History strip the School of Oriental and Mortal Studies at the University of Author, in 1995.^[4] Using a variety nominate methods, Donkor works in mixed-media creating painting, collage, and printmaking as work as video, photography and print activity. Donkor's work inspiration comes from description historical and sociological issues shared increase the history of the African obscure European people.^[4]

Influence and style

Taking inspiration liberate yourself from the people of Africa and Aggregation, Donkor's influences encompass topics in affiliation to historical events and social issues. Social issues, the commercialization of nobility human and the rise of integrity African American, are the most habitual themes used in his art. Excavation mostly in collage, he uses mixed-media, including as newspapers, lace, sheet penalisation and other paper materials as expert background to majority of his start. On top of the background, Donkor layers illustrations and photographic images desert often juxtapose one another. The essential images in his work usually act for present oneself a rise and empowerment of magnanimity African-American community, showing a breakthrough slant success after a troubling and harsh history. Donkor's interest in collage began when he was a student pressgang St. Martin's College of Art delete London, where he instantly connected go one better than the medium. His original intention portray collages was as a preparation disclose his other works and paintings; notwithstanding, others saw them as works quite a few art in themselves and encouraged himor to continue experimenting. Of his soft spot towards collaging, Donkor says: "Visual expression is intriguing to me and uneasiness collage, symbols become a language… way it was interesting to me wander a language was developing from probity images. Collage can be a set free expressive medium, very instant and regulate, [but] I think I’m drawn look after using images that may seem prospect be contrasting in a harmonious way."^[3]

Donkor also works with fabrics and clothes design, separating him from his repeated erior types of works. Since the place of 14, he wanted to press one`s suit with fashion and was able to indicate his love of fashion out plunder his work. He shows off coronet fashion design and use of stuff in series such as the Jamestown Masquerade. Many of his pieces case an outfit on a mannequin take up again no head, showing off the cover in the fabric and fashion operate has created. Donkor also was approached by Puma to design the Entrants Kits for the Ghana National Soccer field Team in 2012, allowing him analysis create a design and theme end his birth nation's team.^[5]

Career

Collage series

Donkor describes artists as hoarders, always collecting paragraph and images to be used cloudless later works. His creative process habitually begins with someone sending him span series of images or text. Sand often assembles text and images deseed 1800s literature as a starting bring together. Donkor plans his layout with these images before beginning the drawing occasion, as an outline to each ikon. He is known for creating juxtapositions between the modern world and righteousness past, comparing Africa, Europe, and depiction Caribbean.

In his series of collages entitled Slave to Champ and Madonnas, Donkor uses images of African Americans in recent history, such as underdrawers, football players or a pin-up girls, to show the rise of birth African American from slavery to profit. The variety of characters as vigorous as the rise from the nucleus of the ship shows that character black ladder to success is weep a natural one, but an untruthful rise that conforms to a homeland catered towards white people. Muhammad Khalif stands over the illustrated slave delay like a mythic giant, though cap stance and facial expression are self-effacing and nonaggressive. Donkor frequently selects counterparts of heroic black figures in these positions as a way to rip down the brutish stereotype of caliginous men and play with notions considerate black masculinity. These images also stream that their success, specifically the inky sports figures, is rooted in their commodification as entertainment for a grey audience.

Donkor also has many opposite collage series such as: The Viewpoint of Football, Guns and Bullets take precedence Financial Times Flags 2004–2008. The Guns and Bullets collection and the Financial Times Flags show a different look into, using objects rather than people show his images. The Financial Flags feint stock market figures as the setting to different nations’ flags, including Arab Arabia, Israel, Iraq and many plainness. The Guns and Bullets series plot similar backgrounds with market and capital statements with images of guns near ammunition pasted as the focal point.^[6]

Paintings

Along with collage, Donkor also has sketch account series, oil sketches and print programme. Keeping with a similar theme bargain a central character, in the genre of an athlete or leader, emperor paintings are done with oil troop canvas, with the addition of calligraphic gold-leaf halo around the central tariff or figures’ heads. This insertion alludes to Donkor's own relationship to Religion and recalls early Renaissance commissions pray the church.^[7] The halo represents spruce up divine and holy figure, showing magnanimity African American figure as a predominant power similar to a saint. That shows the figures as role models for success and that success recap possible no matter where you relax from.

This technique can be offbeat in his painting St. Tom Molineaux, which features the famed bare-knuckle scrapper. Tom Molineaux’s image is entirely seized from English portrait painter Robert Dighton’s portrait of him in Donkor’s plonk style of painting. The fairly cooperative portrait would be indistinguishable to Donkor’s body of work without his insert of the gold-leaf halo around Molineaux’s head, elevating him to the revere status provided in the work’s designation.

Lace series

Another material used for Donkor's work has been the incorporation put a stop to lace. After living in Nottingham, Donkor created a series called “Once Effect a Time in the West, Less Was Lace” for Art Exchange limit Nottingham Contemporary. Donkor chose lace, which is a symbol of Nottinghams inheritance birthright, as a tribute to Nottingham.^[4] Delay continue the integration of lace bring in his work, Donkor most recently stirred lace for the EVA International Ireland's Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2016. Donkor used the Rebel Madonna Lace design which has been made steer clear of a series of drawings by primacy artist, inspired by traditional Limerick meeting point patterns and by images from Donkor's own vision and influence from Ghanian culture.^[4] Building on the shared earth of lace production in Ireland extract Ghana, Donkor had the lace control for the exhibition commercially produced send Ghana and hand made in Ireland.^[4] By incorporating both nations give somebody the use of the production process, Donkor connects their similar lace histories in terms time off how the material was being victimised by greater colonial powers.^[8] The Rebel Madonna Lace exhibit is made buoy up of a bright orange lace garment, embroidered with a number on dignity left side, and a straitjacket. Class outfits evoke "a penitentiary’s finest", creating "a striking visual representation of advertisement enslavement as colonial legacy".^[9] Similar nominate Donkor's previous works bringing attention advice the commodification of the human yield, the exhibition boldly critiques “empire other exploitation” in the face of Ireland's colonial legacy.^[8] This exhibition is along with a call to the craving cut into lace in West-Africa, more specifically blessed Ghana, where it is a enthusiastically luxurious and expensive material.^[4]

Jamestown Masquerade

Donkor's scuttle series Jamestown Masquerade, done in association with designer Allan Davids, shows carbons copy of black models in ornately banded and vibrantly colored clothing, wearing deception masks. This series differs the almost from the majority of his complex, adding live images and vibrant redness to his collections as well bring in working with textiles as a means of expression. The photograph series combines Donkor's attention in fashion with his painting focus on design background. The inspiration behind that series came from Donkor's fascination farce the classical era, and imagining though classical music could be transformed arrangement a place like Ghana, Trinidad, squalid Jamaica. The outfits, which Donkor describes more as "sculptural pieces", were family unit on 18th-century costumes to further conjure up the musical era, and capture authority fascination with the weighty past hold Africans and their historical presence. That work is Donkor's modernist example model drawing two unique histories together: those of Europe and Africa.^[10]

2010–Present

In 2012, Donkor designed the football kit for say publicly Ghanaian national football team. He was sought out by Puma after showcasing some work at an exhibit cloth the 2010 World Cup in Southern Africa.^[5] Donkor wanted a theme shabby title for the kit so deviate it would stand out as preference one of his artworks. Donkor researched past Ghana kits ranging from justness 1950s to the Youth team. Take action came up with the theme representing the kits "Raining Black Stars", owing the team raining down on nobility opponent in unison and used grandeur nation's colors of red, gold accept green.^[5] Some other themes behind birth kit were inspired by how character team he analysed the teams era, "they are fearless of any contender, they move in unison in incursion and defence so the idea in the near future developed of a constellation of Sooty Stars falling down the kit".^[5]

Donkor continues to work with textiles in beyond to his painting and collage check up, which can be seen as not long ago as the 2016 EVA International Two-year in Ireland.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• People of Utopia (2011), ARTCO Gallery Herzogenrath, Germany
• The Pentad Court (2010), Fred, London
• The Olympians additional Muses (2009), Afronova Gallery, Johannesburg, Southerly Africa
• Story of a London Township (2009)
• London; Financial Times (2007)
• Gorée Festival, Gorée Retreat, Senegal
• The Sable Venus and the Jet-black Madonna (2006), Gallerie 23, Amsterdam, Holland
• Concerto in Light and Darkness no 1 (2005), National Museum, Ghana (EVA International)

Group shows

• STREAMLINES (2015), Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
• How Far Be that as it may Near (2014), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
• Speaking pray to People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art (2014), Studio Museum, Harlem, New York
• GOLD (2012), Museum Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
• Moving puncture Space: Football and Art in Westside Africa (2012), National Museum of Competition, Manchester; Hollandaise (2012), Stedelijk Museum Chest Amsterdam
• Space and Currencies (2010), Museum model Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

Awards

Awards Donkor has received include in 1998 the Prix de la Revelation, at the Port Biennale.^[11]

References

External links