Almighty God : Il Divin Saggio
Past exhibition
The Kyo Noir Gallery presents the solo exhibition of Ghanian artist, Almighty God (Anthony Kwame Akoto). The stage name meaning "Almighty God" oversizes the figure of an artist who is also a Christian preacher and a shaman healer. Famous in his homeland as a street painter, Almighty God creates his works on wooden boards sourced from discarded materials.
His studio is tainted with an aura of religious mysticism, dozens of works stacked and displayed on the side of the road (in a busy and dusty area of Kumasi) tell local stories and traditions available to a middle-class African clientele attentive to their Ashanti culture and tradition. Wisdom is the founding element of his works, the frames are invaded by African proverbs, his very personal divine laws give the viewer a direct and effective aesthetic and moral dimension, a warning to the debauchery of modern man grappling with the temptations of contemporaneity. God is good, but he is severe in his judgments; man is on a par with animals when he does not follow the precepts of Christian faith and common sense.
His art crosses at the same time realism, naif and surrealism and has the task of educating his people, fascinating them with the content and beauty of his works. Even the Western world recognizes him as one of the most interesting and famous contemporary African artists in the world and he is featured in numerous museums, galleries and private collections in Europe and the United States.