Delicate, yet determined, the calypso caper white butterfly meandered through the alleys of the dusty Dansoman settlement of sun-beaten structures and metal fashioned containers, drawn by an invisible magnet to a red and white woollen hat. Perplexed by this foreign object, she stuck out her front legs, their tiny hairs meeting the bristles of the wool, seeking desperately for a familiar smell and the sign to oviposit. No sweet nectar was detected but instead, the strong waft of pride, pungent and packing a punch, permeated the air. The proprietor of this object oozed the sense of the scent swirling as he swaggered through the alley, hands in pocket. Behind his look of pseudo confidence, concealed, there was a perpetual thought that hummed in his head. It was almost like a mantra, 'With My Father's Red Cap on my head. I'm the man.' The boy swaggered, confidence swelling inside, passing the Number One Supporter, who too had a calypso caper white butterfly feasting on his perfume of pride.
These two Dansoman dons are members of Richard Adusu's community. They are protagonists in the stories he creates about those in his immediate area whose determination and grit inspire him. Like the diasporan subjects of his Chain Breakers series, they combat the daily adversities that come with being a black man in a global capitalist society to stand tall and still rise. Using a mixture of modelling paste and acrylic paint, Richard Adusu embellishes his black canvases with true stories of black people. His highly textured portraits, fashioned from small smatterings of his modelling paste acrylic mix in greys, purples, blues and gold, celebrate the beauty and diversity of the black race. Talking candidly to Beyond the Black Canvas about his journey to global recognition, he explains how his tenacity and the words of a family friend helped him realise his dream. His desire to tell the stories of those he believes have overcome adversities in life due to their resilience is very much due to his need to have his own story heard. His journey was not always easy, and he has and continues to face many challenges along the way. However, like a true Dansoman don, he does not relent. His drive for success is fuelled by the very town that raised him, and as a consequence, is living up to his role as a Senior by inspiring the next generation of budding artists in his community.
Talk us through your art journey.
It started from the elementary stage. I used to sketch with anything I could lay my hands on. Like every child, I would write and draw things on my father's walls. I was even drawing all over his important documents, cushions and all sorts of things. Whatever I could find that resembled a canvas, I used it. By the time I got to school, my love for drawing had developed, and people recognised my talent. By primary one, at the age of seven, all I could do was draw. The teacher I had at that time also encouraged me. Before I knew it, I completed almost all of the drawings in class for the other students to copy. As I grew up, it was my father's friends who encouraged me further. He played a pinnacle role in the development of my career.
You see, my father didn't know much about art because he had never been to school. He is a full-time fisherman. My mother was also unsure how to support my dream because she left school early, at primary six, when she was around ten years old. So, it was left to this friend of his, who had come from outside of Ghana, to see me drawing and realise that there was something special about me. By this time, I was doing commission portraits for people in my surrounding area with ordinary charcoal. I would grind it and get the powder, pick it with cotton, and then create sketches of people's faces, which they loved it. This was so encouraging for me. I was only ten years old, and people were commissioning me!
I can't remember the exact date it happened, but I do remember the words my father's friend spoke. The words that I believe changed my life. “Wow! Wo wɔ abrokyire ah wodi bɛ nya sika paa oo”. He said. If you were living outside the country (Ghana), you could make a lot of money from your talent.
How did your father react to this? Did he support your love of art?
Well, I was a very academically able student and came top in my class for almost all subjects. Naturally, my father wanted me to be an engineer. Even after his friend gave him that advice, he was still thinking about me becoming an engineer. I, however, had different plans. I knew that what I could do was art, and I loved it. Even at that age, I wouldn't say I liked the idea of people trying to force someone to shun their dreams. I was not too fond of the fact that someone would ask me to stop doing what I love and do best. After school, I chose art, and my father was not happy initially. He still wanted me to pursue the engineering stuff, but I told him no, I could only do art. Eventually, though, my father was convinced, and he gave me his blessing to pursue art. I also think he realised that I was not going to give up.
How was your father convinced? What changed?
As I was close to finishing Junior High School, I made a friend with a guy who was also a key player in my journey to becoming a full-time artist. He was a senior; I think he was at the last level of school. He used to bring work for me to do for him, shading and stuff like that. Through this, he introduced me to foreign pencils. With them, I was doing marvellous work. I remember being amazed and thinking, wow, these are great. They were a step up from the ground up charcoal I had been used to. That was what really aroused my feelings to get into the art world. At that age, when I was starting out, I didn't know there were materials like that. Before then, I was struggling with chalk and charcoal. Pencils at that time, for me where I was growing up, were rare and such a luxury. The day I discovered those pencils was like opening my eyes to a brand new world of possibilities. This friend of mine suggested I go to Ghanatta College of Art and Design. Having convinced my parents, we went to see it and there they tested my skills. They saw something good in me. The school was built to encourage those of us with the talent to go deep into art. It was also just what I was looking for. I had to do it. I knew I couldn't disturb myself with any other course again, so I entered fully into that.
How did your career evolve after Ghanatta?
In 2005 I completed Ghanatta College of Art and Design. At that time, I was painting everything. I guess I was trying to meet the market, which I don't think I was even clear of. I learnt a lot during an early exhibition at Novotel Hotel, which is now Accra City Hotel. I was a young artist coming up, and I had a show with another guy who had graduated before me in school. He was painting just one thing. After the exhibition, although I sold some, he sold all his paintings. I realised there was something there. From this experience, I realised that I needed to develop a style. Something unique and distinctive. I picked a style from one of my old paintings I had made for a client. The technique was inspired by army camouflage. Later on, I started to develop it and added the texture with modelling paste somewhere around 2016/15.
Can you describe more about your current style?
I get the unique texture in my portraits by mixing modelling paste with acrylic paint. The texture I create is to mimic the ups and downs of life, the peaks and troughs. It's my way of telling people about the struggles of the black race. Through my portraits, I want to help black people be aware of where we are coming from and the fight our ancestors fought for us to be where we are now. Although we are still battling, we are still standing proud, and so many of us have achieved amazing things despite the adversity.
How does your choice of colour help tell this story?
The choice of colours is something conscious to tell a particular story. There are significant colours I frequently use, predominantly grey, black and white. It's in some way like displaying what is beyond the black canvas. I start by painting my canvases black. This is to signify my race; black is my background; it's where I'm coming from as a black man. However, I also believe that we all, no matter our race, come from a black man. When we trace humans back to the earliest men of humanity, you'll see they are black men from the continent of Africa. I mix the black and white paint to make a grey to depict the grey areas between the races. I do not believe we can understand humanity as simply black and white. Although we are forced to by social norms, it is not conducive to creating harmony in life. The purple is to beautify the black skin of my subjects. Mostly purple means royalty. I use it to tell my viewer how royal black skin is.
Why have you chosen to focus on portraiture?
It's simple. I began as a portrait artist. Although, when I started Ghanatta, I changed to landscape. In fact, I became very good at painting landscapes, especially seascapes, because I'm from the seaside. I was always painting canoes by the sea and fishermen, and eventually, they started to call me The Fisherman Artist. Later after school, I did a seascape, and I sent it to a gallery in Circle, Accra. The woman there said, "Who will buy a sea to place in their room?" That was in 2004. She really discouraged me. Even so, I didn't relent. I then sent it to another gallery. It was somewhere around the Stadium area in Osu, Accra, Ghana, Galerie Afrikana, and in exactly two weeks, the painting sold. That was the first painting I'd sold in a gallery. I remember the buyer left a comment, it said something to the effect of 'the scene is very inspiring, I was very touched. I like how you depicted the weather and conveyed emotions.' Later on, as I entered the art market, I was painting both portraits and landscapes. But I soon realised people found more interest in the portraits, they seemed to buy more, but this doesn't mean I'm necessarily guided by the market. As I came back to portraiture, I just realised that I love it.
What keeps you painting portraits if not the market?
The main reason for my practice is to tell the story about human emotion. Many people in the world have problems. All of us have some kind of problem, but one usually cannot know unless you get close to the person. For example, Chadwick Boseman, we all now know the story behind Chadwick, but at the time we were seeing him in movies, we didn't know. So for me, the face is like a whole story, and you can tell so much by looking closely at each feature, especially the eyes. I focus around the eyes when painting as that is where you see the emotions. We meet a whole lot of humans in our lives, and they all carry their stories. Some are not ready to open up. But some will. Either way, I can usually tell what the person is feeling by looking at the face. So that is the main reason why I prefer to paint portraiture.
How do you choose your subjects?
I usually consider the story of the person. I especially like to explore the narratives of the people that live around me here in Dansoman. A painting I love is of a young footballer who is struggling to make it. He's actually my junior brother. I like his enthusiasm, and you can see that in his face; it is very forceful. He doesn't relent when it comes to training, no matter the circumstance, he is there. His enthusiasm to make it inspires me a lot, and I want everyone to know that story and be inspired the way that I am. That's how I choose my subjects; those who are forced by circumstances beyond their control to be their possible best; the unrelenting black man.
What is the symbolism of the butterfly in these three pieces?
For me, I consider the butterfly to be a totem of beauty. It is also an image used in traditional Ghanaian art, as we frequently find here in nature. I use them to draw people's attention to particular focal points on the painting, which is reflected in the titles. This piece, for example, I call My Father's Red Cap. Chiefs wear redcaps; when an older man wears a red cap we can assume he is a wise man or something. This young boy who is posing as his father is trying to imitate his father, he is fantasising that one day he should be a red cap chief. This one is entitled My Favorite Jacket. It's a musician who I met. He told me the jacket was his favourite and it was given to him through a performance he did. It was offered as a gift, so he always puts it on. He's forceful too, like my other subjects; they're all people that are trying to make it. This one The Number One Supporter, is a guy who supports the Bulls and loves Micheal Jordan. He aspired to be an NBA basketball player. However, he couldn't follow this dream, so instead, he supports it. This dedication motivates me and I want it to do the same for others.
Can you share some information about your female subjects?
Yes, generally, my female artists help me tell stories of women here in Ghana. This painting, in particular, is me capturing a young lady contemplating, in a state of dilemma. She's thinking about her lover and torn because her parents have suggested a rich guy as a suitor. I chose to depict her in gold rather than purple; again it is to beautify and signify the royalty of black people.
I also have a series called Duku (meaning headscarf in the Ghanaian native language Ga). These portraits are actually about what I believe to be the typical Ghanaian lady. It is to tell the story about their headgears. They don't just wear it for fun, some wear it for beauty, some wear it to tell a story. I have one particular piece called My Golden Scarf; for example, it depicts a woman wearing a gold Duku to say to people how important she is and her social status, her class. Headwraps typically have symbols on them, which give us a sense of who the wearer is. In another one from the series, the woman is wearing a fabric named Sika wo ntaban, which directly translates to money flies: she spends money like water. The title of the piece is given the same name as the fabric is Sika wo ntaban. The design on the material is a bird with an oval around it and is a symbol to tell people how to handle money.
Can you talk me through other series you have done?
This series is called Chain Breakers. It features the late Chadwick Boseman. It tells the stories of the black people who have strived hard to be at the top regardless of pressure and oppression. They've been through a lot to make it through, so I wanted to honour them. They are in some way like myself.
How does your community view you as an artist?
Recently, as people have become familiar with my work, things have changed, my lifestyle has changed, many people are happy to see it. Especially my parents. They see me as an inspiration because I have never let go since my childhood. I've been painting since. I started with a whole load of guys who have since stopped painting. I'll see them and they'll say, "Eh Chale, you've tried, oh!" They follow my work on social media and they encourage me a lot. Some of them have even expressed that my lifestyle inspires them. You know, sometimes I go through hunger, yet I am still persistent and consistent. But I'm just doing what I love and what I do best. Painting is my passion and it makes me happy. It is not about the money. Many young artists around me have seen me as a role model and have started to do art full time. I am happy for them as they are doing well. I like that I have been their inspiration.
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