New Paintings

Alan and I had a really fabulous weekend this past weekend which, in Ghana, is saying a lot! Part of what made the weekend so special was that we finally bought 2 paintings from a Ghanaian artist we've been admiring and following since we arrived 2 years ago. We first saw Larry Otoo's paintings in an art gallery here in Accra and were drawn to them immediately. His use of color alone is enough to move you. We then started seeing his work pop up around town in restaurants, hotels, and in other galleries. We decided a long time ago that before we leave Ghana we would buy a piece of his work. And, as it seems our two year contract here in Ghana is drawing to a close, we decided we better act on this decision sooner than later. We had previously tried to locate Mr. Otoo using the internet but could not find any contact information for him, although there was plenty about him online. We didn't want to buy from the gallery but instead wanted to buy directly from him. We know the gallery prices are marked up a lot and we really wanted to opportunity to meet the man we've been following. Finally, we recently saw some of his work in the airport and there was a number of a gallery attached to the paintings. Alan wrote to the gallery and as it turned out, there was not an actual gallery but more of a moving gallery that shows various painters' works around Accra. But, the woman told us she could bring us some of his work to our house for us to view and perhaps buy. We were still not satisfied, however, being that we'd buy from someone representing the artist. Taking another look online, we finally found Mr. Otoo's new website which displayed his contact information (www.larryotoo.com). I quickly wrote to him and explained we were big fans of his and would just love to come visit his studio and buy a piece of his work. Within several hours he replied and suggested we call him to get directions. We were giddy with excitement! After speaking to him the next day and getting somewhat vague directions to his house/studio, we decided we'd venture out on Saturday in an attempt to buy our first Otoo.

We got an early start, knowing it might take us a while to find his place which was a bit outside of town. We battled normal Accra traffic and tried to keep Eli entertained in the car for about an hour when I soon got a bad feeling we had gone too far. We asked a boy on the side of the road and he confirmed we'd missed our turnoff by a lot. So we turned around and after another 30 minutes find Mr. Otoo's studio. A little nervous as we weren't sure what to expect. He is after all one of the top 3 painters in the country and has shown is work all around the world. After first being greeted by his lovely wife who guided us to his studio next door, we found an amazingly kind, gentle, and very humble man who welcomed us into our studio. We were surrounded by beautiful paintings both on the wall and on the floor and in front of us we noticed a painting he must have just been working on when we entered. We were like kids in a candy store salivating over the splashes of color which made up images of beautiful Ghanaian women, musicians, and street scenes. Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, he started bringing out painting after painting that he had either in the back of his studio or his house.

As we browsed we talked to him about his art, his use of color, his training, his travels, and his views on what will become of Ghanaian art in the future. He was open with us about his concerns that there are no great up and coming Ghanaian artists and his feeling is that this is due to their lack of motivation and deep internal passion for painting. Instead, he feels that young artists in Ghana today do not have the patience to wait or work for success in the field and are driven by money more than anything else. Mr. Otto graduated from the University of Ghana in 1981 and was a student of the most famous Ghanaian painter, Glover. He told us that the other top painters from Ghana currently were from his same class and we were familiar with their work as well so discussed what he felt about their work.

And so finally it came time to decide on a piece, or in this case, 2 pieces! The first two that we saw when we entered the studio wound up to be the ones we decided on.




The second one, Alan had just the other day inquired about from the gallery at the airport. Mr. Otoo told us we were very lucky because just the day before, a woman had bought that painting from the airport gallery on her way to board a plane. But as it turned out, she already had too much baggage and could not take the painting and had to give it back. It then made its way back to Mr. Otto. He told us that this painting has been very popular and admired by many so we felt very lucky to be able to admire every day for years to come. Alan delicately negotiated the price a bit with Mr. Otoo after having some minor confusion about whether the quoted price was in dollars or cedis. We packed up our paintings, took a picture with our favorite Ghanaian artist, and went on our way.



The paintings already are up on the walls in our apartment but not for long. In the following few weeks, we should hear about where we're headed next in the world and the paintings will surely follow us on our next adventure.