In-Between Ashes alludes to the African culture of being in community with people with shared interests.In this new body of work, he looks at the urgency of both ideas, individuality and community, in relation to the themes of identity and human connection.
Kwaku Owusu’s (b. 1991, Accra) paintings are a surrealist juxtaposition of the mind and body. In his new exhibition, In-between Ashes, the artist’s interest in the subconscious, the unseen, and the unknown is emphasized. His profound desire to focus on human connections and community beyond the physical is made literal and immediate per painting. As he adapts an even more vibrant mix of colors in the new series, illustrating the tensions between the physical and the metaphysical spaces, Owusu’s paintings find a way to articulate these connections. Unlike his usual style of describing the space between the conscious and subconscious using sign language and having his subjects' extended limbs or heads in the shape of hands meet, Owusu distinctly honors the space and connections to show the importance of individuality in communities. His subjects are physical and celestial beings interacting and coexisting in communal spaces.
In-between Ashe salludes to the African culture of being in community with people with shared interests.In this new body of work, he looks at the urgency of both ideas, individuality and community, in relation to the themes of identity and human connection. How do we hold each other up? How do we care for one another? How do we hear each other without making a mockery of our needs? Kwaku Owusu echoes post-pandemic questions like these as people continue to search for avenues of connecting with others more than ever before. Could this need to stay connected with others while maintaining our personhood be a trauma response? With each painting in this series, the artist explores the boundaries of human empathy by visually representing modes of
verbaland non-verbal communication.
