ABLADE GLOVER
80th ANNIVERSARY
3 July – 2 August 2014
On the occasion of his 80th birthday, October Gallery London will present an exhibition of paintings by the renowned artist Ablade Glover, celebrating a lifelong passion for the colour, energy and vibrancy of his native Ghana.
Now in his 80th year, Glover will exhibit a selection of works which represent his insatiable passion for movement, activity and colour. Using, a palette knife he applies his oils in a thick impasto. Heavy layers of bright colours invoke the bustling crowds, the heat, thriving market stalls and dusty shanty towns of his acclaimed market paintings. Individual figures emerge from the crowds and it is this endless movement of the masses which underpins Glover’s market scenes. The roughly textured surfaces of his canvases recall an earth parched by the powerful African sun.
Accentuated by his choice of vibrant colours expressing the visual richness of the African continent, Glover amasses energy from his subjects. Every singular vivid fleck of colour represents the vigour recognisable in each of his works. Drawing themes from his environment, Glover effortlessly transports the viewer into the scene. Often the perspective that Glover employs is from a high vantage point overlooking the town, beach or crowd below. From this position, the viewer becomes an involved and captivated onlooker.
ABOUT
Trained in Ghana, Britain and the United States, Professor. Glover has accumulated a number of distinctions, which show his importance as an artist and enthusiastic educator on the national and international art scene. Until 1994 he was Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Art Education and Dean of the College of Art at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. More recently, in 1998, he was awarded the FLAGSTAR Award (top award for Arts in Ghana) by the ACRAG in Ghana; Distinguished AFGRAD Alumni Award by the African-American Institute in New York, and he is a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Art in London. He is also listed in “Who’s Who in the World”, “Dictionary of Contemporary International Artists” and “Who’s Who in Art and Antiques.”
Professor Ablade Glover
NDD, ATD, Med, PhD, FRSA
(b. 1934, Accra, Ghana)