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What techniques do each of these artists use to represent their subjects?

How do these artists use their visual styles to show their subjects?

January / February 2023

When artists make portraits, they’re often saying something about their subject’s identity, mood, or personality. You can interpret their ideas through their visual style. What colors, textures, or patterns do they use? Is the portrait realistic or stylized? What choices does the artist make about the setting and the subject’s facial expression, body language, and clothing?

The artists featured here all live and work in West Africa. Each is celebrated for his portraits. Before you begin reading, what ideas do you think each artist means to share about his subject’s identity? How does he visually convey those ideas?

When artists make portraits, they often share something about their subjects. They might capture identity, mood, or personality. The artist’s visual style can help you understand their ideas. What colors, textures, or patterns do they use? What about the subject’s facial expression, pose, and clothing?

The artists featured here all live and work in West Africa. Each artist makes different choices about how to visually present his subjects. How does each artist represent his subjects’ identities?

Strike a Pose

“The primary idea of my practice is representation, documenting, celebrating, and showing new ways to approach Blackness,” Amoako Boafo (ah-MAH-kwo bo-AH-fwoh) explains. The subject’s hands are raised in his Hands Up, above. This person is calm and cool, in yellow sunglasses and a dark jacket.

“I like human expression,” the artist says. “That’s my starting point.” To suggest emotion in works like this one, Boafo uses his fingers to apply paint directly to the canvas. Fingerpainting creates texture on the surface of his paintings. In this example, Boafo juxtaposes this texture with the flat yellow background.

Boafo splits his time between Ghana and Austria. A few years ago, the figurative artist was struggling to sell his paintings for $100. Then his big break came when he was discovered on Instagram. His 2018 Hands Up sold for more than $3 million in 2021.

Amoako Boafo (ah-MAH-kwo bo-AH-fwoh) painted the portrait above in 2018. The artist aims to celebrate Black people and culture. In Hands Up, the subject’s hands are raised. This person is calm and cool, in yellow sunglasses and a dark jacket.

“I like human expression,” says Boafo. To help show emotion in his work, Boafo fingerpaints. He uses his hands to apply paint to the canvas. This creates texture on the surface.

Boafo splits his time between Ghana and Austria. A few years ago, he was struggling to sell his work. His big break came when people discovered him on Instagram. Hands Up sold for more than $3 million in 2021!

Surreal Situation

“I tell stories with my paintings,” says Kelechi Nwaneri (kuh-LEH-chee wah-NEHree), who lives in Nigeria. In his 2022 Earth’s View; Mars, above, he imagines a tourist posing for a picture on Mars.

Nwaneri taught himself to be an artist by watching videos on the internet. He began by drawing hyperrealistic portraits in pencil. In this example, his subject’s face and hair look like a photograph, while the hands feature a white motif. Nwaneri frequently incorporates marks like these from indigenous African languages and cultures into his work.

“My work is born out of the desire to stir up conversations on issues around social values, history, mental health, and the subconscious interaction between man and his environment,” Nwaneri says.

“I tell stories with my paintings,” says Kelechi Nwaneri (kuh-LEH-chee wah-NEH-ree). He lives in Nigeria. His 2022 Earth’s View; Mars, is shown above. In it, he imagines a tourist posing for a picture on Mars.

Nwaneri taught himself to be an artist by watching videos online. He began by drawing extremely realistic portraits in pencil. In this example, the girl’s face and hair look like a photo. But instead of making the subject’s hands realistic too, Nwaneri includes a white pattern on them. The artist is interested in marks like these that come from indigenous African languages and cultures. “My work is born out of the desire to stir up conversations,” he says.

Like his friend and former teacher Boafo, Emmanuel Taku (TAH-koo) uses monochromatic backgrounds to offset his figures. How do the subjects of Taku’s 2022 Party in Purple, above, differ from the person in Hands Up?

As a child, Taku noticed that superheroes in movies and on television were almost always White. When Superman was at his most formidable, Taku recalls, his eyes would go blank. Taku adopts this idea, giving his subjects pupil-less eyes to portray his Black subjects as powerful.

Taku’s figures wear distinctively patterned clothes. He designs these patterns on a computer, then silkscreens them onto his paintings. “I love fashion,” the Ghana-based artist says.

The matching duo appears to be dancing or modeling, with touching feet. As Taku explains, “I want to make it look like everything is possible when we come together.”

Emmanuel Taku (TAH-koo) is Boafo’s friend and was once his student. Taku’s 2022 Party in Purple is shown above. Like Boafo, he uses a single color to paint his monochromatic backgrounds.

As a child, Taku watched movies and shows about superheroes. He noticed that these characters were almost always White. Taku recalls that when Superman was at his most powerful, his eyes would go blank. The artist chose to give his Black subjects blank eyes to show their power.

Taku’s figures usually wear clothes with patterns. He designs these patterns on a computer. “I love fashion,” the Ghana-based artist says.

The duo pose with their feet touching. “I want to make it look like everything is possible when we come together,” explains Taku.