Rikki Wemega-Kwawu
“ The thoughts of my people : their philosophies , sensibilities and values , their mode of worship , that which they believe in and which guides their day-to-day living .
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An interview with
Rikki Wemega-Kwawu
Art around us
Fishing boats , Adinkra , durbars and phone cards are just some of the inspiration Takoradi artist Rikki Wemega-Kwawu draws from everyday life and the people around him .
His work features in collections around the world with one of his most recent commissions being a set of works for the prestigious new Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra .
Growing up in Sekondi-Takoradi , Rikki says he enjoyed painting from an early age and , as he puts it , “ bugged my parents to buy me watercolours ”. When other boys were busy playing football he and a group of friends painted together .
Later , at high school , Rikki decided to apply for engineering schools in the United States , thinking that it might be possible there to gain an engineering qualification while also pursuing his art interests . When application forms called for information about the applicant ’ s extracurricular activities he would send off a couple of paintings with the form to show where his interests lay . Staff at one school in Illinois were so taken with his work they displayed it on their walls where it caught the eye of African-American art dealer Ronnel Walton . So impressed was he that he contacted Rikki directly and sent him three suitcases of art supplies , some of which he still uses today . Walton then visited Takoradi himself bringing more supplies and suggested that Rikki should take up a position as an art teacher at a private school in America .
Visa problems put paid to both that idea and engineering studies but , passionate as he was about art , Rikki decided to educate himself . He visited libraries all over Ghana reading extensively about art , history and philosophy through which he realized that many world-renown artists , Picasso to name but one , never completed formal art studies . From then on he made painting his life ’ s work and over the years has developed an international following . In 1998 he was accepted into an advanced course at the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine , USA , an honour usually only bestowed on those with post-graduate academic qualifications in art . Working in oil , acrylic and sometimes in other media Rikki is equally comfortable in abstract or pictorial methods . “ My realistic works are characterized by humanistic tendencies . I am stimulated by life around me ; people , landscapes , figure in landscape and natural forms . I capture the rhythm , heartbeat and passion of my people : their joys , their sufferings , their moods , their aspirations and their destinies . I am very much interested in the activity of light in three dimensional space and how best to render such imagery in a two dimensional painting ”.
In his abstract works he says he tries to find visual imagery to deal with the magicomystical realities of the African spiritual and religious world . “ The thoughts of my people : their philosophies , sensibilities and values , their mode of worship , that which they believe in and which guides their dayto-day living . As a painter , it is incumbent upon me to make known the thoughts of my people , to portray the lasting manifold spirit of Africa . I am seeking , therefore , an art of spiritual regeneration , to try to get to Africa , show how it is experienced and felt in totality . My work invariably , has something to say in search of a modern visual expression of religious meaning ”.
In 2007 , Rikki assembled around 4000 used pre-paid mobile phone cards in an installation titled , Kente for the Space Age . The cards came from various countries including , Malaysia , the United States and the United Kingdom , though most were from Ghana . They were woven together with plastic twine in a syncopated rhythm , mimicking the vibrant colours and compositional design of the traditional Ghanaian kente cloth . The work has displayed to much critical acclaim in major exhibitions in the UK , USA , South Africa , The Netherlands and Germany .
Rikki is keenly interested in Adinkra and other African writing systems and has incorporated this widely in his work . A key influence in this area has been the Swiss psychoanalyst , Carl G . Jung , and his idea of the Common Unconscious or Universal Mind which connects us all no matter where we come from . As Rikki puts it , “ A person from Germany responds to an Adinkra even if they have no understanding of the metaphor it portrays which a Ghanaian can read . Symbols and art can speak to us all no matter what our different languages or cultural heritage are ”.
“ Royal Umbrellas ”, 2010 , Acrylic on Canvas
“ Ashanti Saga ”, 2005 , Oil on Canvas
“ Kente for the Space Age ”, 2007 ( detail ), Used phone cards and plastic twine
“ Drum Appellation ”, 2005 , Acrylic on Canvas
“ Just One Day ”, 2003 , Oil on Canvas
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