‘Yellow is the Colour of Water’ opens August 19 at Gallery 1957

of imagery and the boundaries of portraiture. Quarshie removes this practice from the landscape of the elite, re-positioning it as a medium for raising critical questions about social conditions of the masses. The yellow gallons become both backdrop and throne—paradoxical points of failure and hope.

Quarshie’s exhibition extends beyond the gallery walls, encompassing off-site sculptural works which mark a new direction for the artist. Projects at Tema Station lorry park and Kotoka International Airport, chart critical locations and sites of movement within the Accra landscape. Intervening in architectures of state, corporate, and public institutions, Quarshie re-purposes pipes and hoses as minimalist sculptures, a subtle rupture in the conventional flow of things.

Quarshie lives and works in Accra today. His paintings have been included in exhibitions internationally including: The Gown Must Go To Town…, National Museum of Science and Technology, Accra (2015); Silence Between the Lines, Prime Motors Ltd., Kumasi (2015); The Munich-project, Global Art — Local View, Villa Mohr, Munich (2014); Muses, Goethe Institut, Accra (2013); The ‘Sabi Yu Rutu’ project, Suriname (2013); Kaleidoscope, La Villa Boutique, Accra (2013); Time, Trade and Travel, Nubuke Foundation, Accra and Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA), Amsterdam (2012); and The Ghana-project, Global Art — Local View, Goethe Institut, Accra (2012).

Founded in Accra by collector Marwan Zakhem, Gallery 1957 is a new gallery with a curatorial focus on contemporary Ghanaian art presenting a programme of exhibitions, installations and performances by the country’s most significant artists.