Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe paints empowering images of black men and women set against lush monochromatic backgrounds. His portraits of friends and family are celebrations of blackness and reclamations of lost and forgotten cultural dignity. He uses color, the primary instrument of self-expression in his native Ghana, as a language of transformation to create a dynamic of cultural, political, and personal redemption. Quaicoe was born in Accra, Ghana, where he was first introduced to painting by the expressive, highly stylized posters painted by local artists to advertise upcoming films, and attended the Ghanatta College of Art and Design for Fine Art in Accra, where he studied painting. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
signed and later dated "Kwame Kye 19" lower right; further signed, titled and later dated "KWAME KYE JUNE 2019 "Old Town Boy"" on the reverse oil on canvas 48 x 36 in. (121.9 x 91.4 cm) Painted in 2018.
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $137,500
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Sam Mansour
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now Sale
New York
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