April 2016
 |
| April 2016 |
Serge
Attukwei Clottey has gained international recognition via the Internet and
through his travels overseas with his works focusing on the yellow jerry cans,
an iconic visual symbol that have become central to his work; these yellow
gallon drums are used to bring water to homes of the underprivileged can be
seen throughout the poorer neighbourhoods of Accra and becomes his optical
metaphor for the underdevelopment of Ghana’s Capital. Water is at a premium and although considered
the most essential human right on earth, in the Accra, tap water in homes is
strictly reserved for the wealthy and well-to-do. Good drainage and plumbing
throughout the city has yet to be achieved for all. Serge is often regarded as
one of the leading lights of his era and within the last few years has
effectively developed a new generation of artists from Africa – Generation X
but what would his father say to his son, dressing up in his Mother’s clothes
and calling it Art?
The
turning point in Serge’s
artistic development was when he ventured over to Brazil and worked at Belo
Horizonte in 2006. This
gave him an insight into what Art could be and he then began to challenge the
narrow parameters of what was regarded as Contemporary African Art. Now we
begin to see how he bravely took on the mantra from his father Mr Seth Clottey,
whose formal, conventional more conservative artworks brought him fame in the
years during Independence and beyond. Although
his father’s paintings are highly accomplished works of Art they do tend to
favour a Colonial appetite. The idea of creating portraiture, figurative works or
landscapes, stretched onto canvases and set in gilded frames seemed a little
unadventurous for his fiercely competitive son. Those old-fashioned and
outdated works seemed to somehow play into the hands of an oppressed past. They
were created on demand and on the basis to be sold. To find a specific market
for an invisible dominance that seems to have remained in Ghana since
Independence. The young artist felt that his father’s generation were nothing
more than Ghanaians copying the West. The culture in West Africa, just like
elsewhere on the Continent, is to show your respect for your elders at all
times and never to confrontation them. To do so is regarded as being utterly
impertinent and rewarded with a handsome beating. His father, Mr Seth Clottey simply couldn’t
understand what on earth he was up to. This tormented father/son relationship
was certainly not an easy one and the very idea of creating works out of
discarded rubbish was difficult for the older generation to come to terms with
and virtually impossible to comprehend. Mr. Seth Clottey was furious with his
non-conforming off spring, thinking him rude and disrespectful. It was at this
time when I first met Serge, at his poorest and his best. He was at war with
himself and all those around him. The two artists young and old were at
loggerheads. His father was completely baffled by his son’s antics, thinking he
would never make anything of himself playing with the discarded scraps of the
city. What kind of livelihood could he make from such efforts? He never for one
instance considered what he was doing could possibly be taken seriously and
Ghana would end up making fun of his son and ruin the family name, so began the
agonizing early years and the beginning of Serge’s artistic endeavours.
These were
the tough days as the hardships Serge faced without financial or emotional
support meant he was limited to the materials he could afford and the places he
could sleep. Having such little money he found solace in his friends in the impoverished
areas of Labadi and Nima, these are some of the poorest neighbourhoods in
Accra, but it was here that the banished son found his support. He would assist
in the pulling in of the nets for the fishermen in Labadi to earn a decent
square meal. He lived in a simple room without running water or electricity, so
painting in oil or acrylics was too much to ask, so these limitations became his
greatest asset. During the day he became a beach comber looking for any washed
up garbage he could use as artistic materials and bind together to create his
artworks. The difficulty in the early days was to break that classic mindset of
the past, that hangover from Colonialism that Art can only truly be art if it
looks like the Art being produced in the West (Europe or America). It took
enormous will-power and stubbornness from the young artist that was so
determined to make his mark in the world of Art, but thankfully, with the
introduction of the Internet and access to a wider world, all his intense thinking
was echoed elsewhere. The artist’s true pathway was rising to meet him and the battle
for true cultural independence was set. 
At first
Serge started using far more unconventional methods of creating and more
in-line with artists of the past, before the time of the invaders. Using his
own interpretation of modern African art Serge quickly showed his skills off by
mixing motherboards and electronic innards with brightly coloured plastics with
string and rope tied onto plants of wood, which made up his sculptural statements,
forging his own unique creations and generating a comprehensive parable for
modernity; the idea of technology taking centre stage in this newly shaping
metropolitan environment of modern Accra.
At the time things were changing at lightning pace but only for the few
and in reality the majority were still very much the same. In the years that
followed things became increasingly exciting as Serge became more visible on Social Media where he could display his works, show-off his modelling fashion
photographs, his team that were building up around him as he started to
document the faces of Labadi and his journeys overseas to Vienna. Here is where
his work really started to make more sense and the various international artists
that he was introduced to where, by and large wonderfully encouraging and compassionate.
His work started to flourish along with his confidence and his performance
works became a delight to watch, of a homeless Ghanaian in a European Capital
and his primal desire was a tongue-in-check empty television, mocking those
from the West and the miserable Africans that seem to make no sense whilst
inhabiting the foolish world of unrequited wealth. Somehow, almost by magic he had found the
portal to a world he knew was there but felt he could never reach. The door was
beginning to open and through it he could express all his desires and beliefs
in ways he knew to be, not only international but more importantly the origins
of practices performed within indigenous West Africa. The secret to great Art
lies in its honesty and its execution. It was a few years later and Serge was
gaining fame by the day and it wasn’t long before an opportunity to tour
America became available. This is like hitting the jackpot for any living
artist but more-so for an African Artist. He traveled from New York on the East Coast and then moved in land to the Mid-West to Ohio and then onto the West Coast of Los Angeles and San Francisco. With all his new found American experiences Serge returned back to Ghana to a heroes welcome 
This exhibition is a landmark show. A mid-career show. A
coming of age, not just for this artist but for Africa too, his work speaks of
loss, of sadness and his life that will never be the same again, it will seem a little
emptier than before as the Artist’s mother has died. He wears her clothes and asks others to do that
same in a ritualistic manner, so West Africa in its birth, so unique and daring
this event must be clearly marked in the History of African Art. It answers so
many questions. Are the Artists from Africa to follow the West and be cloned
into something they simply are not? Are they all to wait for opportunities
abroad and only then can they make a difference internally? The world is overly
aware of the way in which funerals are conducted in Ghana. They are huge events, where everybody is invited and all share in
the process of the burial but what about the grief, is their grief in Ghana? Of
course they grieve like everybody else it is a human condition to feel loss and
that sense of respectful emptiness of a life lost forever. 
The symbol of Ghana is a yellow gallon plastic water carrier,
used in a way to call out change of different kinds. Through this symbol we see
the state of Ghana today, poor and enslaved by the rich who have drainage and silver
taps with running water. They have gardens with sprinklers and swimming pools
in the front and a second pool at the back too. They have huge water towels to
service the house; large generators gently humming and running the electricity;
satellite dishes can be seen in the garden, there to keep up to date with world
news and fast speed internet. But all these mod-cons are not for everybody,
purely for the elite. The greedy individuals that keep the country on its knees
and favour this divided unfair society. When people talk of the economy growing
what difference does it make for the poor....NONE. They are kept poor in order for the economy
to grow. This will surely breed resentment and anger in the majority and so we
have a group of artists who can speak on their behalf. Through his International travels
Serge has learned just how powerful Art can be.
Working collectively and with strict guidelines on certain messages Serge and his team are keen to highlight the struggles of those less fortunate. The artists have found a way in
which to have a voice that can serve the people and make them proud to call
themselves Ghanaians.
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