Atta Kwami | Goodman Gallery New York

Goodman Gallery is pleased to present ‘Prelude to Mountains’, featuring a selection of early works created over almost two decades (1990-2008). The presentation highlights Kwami’s significant contribution to non-Western expressions of modernism and showcases the pivotal moments that shaped his artistic practice — which coalesced painting, printmaking and sculpture through vibrant compositions.

They highlight works depicting a diverse range of pictorial elements, employing color and motifs through varied mark-making and brush strokes. The works exude a sensuous and playful quality, brimming with energy and a sense of freedom and experimentation.

The earliest work, ‘Untitled (Murial Blue)’, created in 1990, features a powerful and unusual composition inspired by the wall paintings of northern Ghana, where women paint the outer walls of their houses to protect them from the elements, primarily using earth pigments and dung. Kwami discovered that the women incorporated a powder known as ‘washing blue’, an ultramarine-like substance traditionally used for whitening clothes and referenced it in the work. These influences significantly shape his stylistic language and are evident in both the choice of color and the title of the work.

The earliest work, ‘Untitled (Murial Blue)’, created in 1990, features a powerful and unusual composition inspired by the wall paintings of northern Ghana, where women paint the outer walls of their houses to protect them from the elements, primarily using earth pigments and dung. Kwami discovered that the women incorporated a powder known as ‘washing blue’, an ultramarine-like substance traditionally used for whitening clothes and referenced it in the work. These influences significantly shape his stylistic language and are evident in both the choice of color and the title of the work.

Kwami's work embodies a connection between symbolism and formalism. Drawing from modernist approaches that prioritize structure and abstraction, he integrates rich cultural narratives into his use of formal elements — such as zig-zags and herringbone patterns found in Ghanaian fabric, the kiosks and shop fronts of informal traders. ‘East’ features rectangles and triangles arranged across three horizontal planes. This work is reminiscent of the architectural archways Kwami has painted throughout his career, beginning with his first archway created in Nairobi in 1999 and continuing with recent works like ‘Atsiaƒu ƒe agbo nu (Gateways of the Sea)’, showcased at the Folkestone Triennial in Kent, England in 2021. Painted in vibrant hues, these works blend sculpture and painting and are inspired by street vending kiosks found in many parts of Ghana and West Africa.

Often, narratives are reflected in the spirit of the composition and the titles of the works, such as ‘Arlesheim’, ‘Prelude to Mountains’, ‘Carnak’, and ‘Adum’, which is a large commercial area in the Ashanti region of Ghana. ‘Prelude to Mountains’ and ‘Carnak’ are full and layered while works such as ‘Adum’ and ‘Credential’ are elemental, capturing a distillation of form through clarity.  In contrast, works such as ‘Zone’ capture the essence of line and structure, influenced by his commissioned projects with the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), which included designing a wrought iron balustrade and logo for the organization.

Although abstract in nature, Kwami's works are highly conceptual and richly layered. His painting ‘Two Sisters’ features recurring edging stripes, a theme rooted in his earlier series of “Tana” paperworks created with coloured paper pulp in 1993. Rectangles, the vertex-transitive shape that suggests balance, appear frequently throughout his oeuvre. However, in his works, this shape conveys tension, emphasizing movement and transformation rather than symmetry and proportion. There’s an interplay between flatness, suggestions of landscape, horizons, and texture against seemingly floating and unrestricted forms, as seen in ‘Credential’.

The works in this presentation highlight Atta Kwami's transition while also revealing the ideas he was interested in early in his career. Thick, simple planes of color, along with lines and patterns on various materials—canvas, calico, and linen—showcase a small part of his long and rich career. During this time, Kwami established a confident and bold style, merging vibrant colors with structured brushwork. His approach to color is both deliberate and spontaneous, evident in the variety of works that trace his artistic journey.