BORN: 1968 Ghana

Theophilus Nii Anum Sowah was the chief apprentice in the workshop of the famous master coffin maker, Kane Kwei, until Kwei’s death in 1992, at which time Nii Anum branched out on his own. Kwei is credited by many with being the father of the modern fantasy coffin phenomena in Ghana. Over the last twenty+ years, Nii Anum’s work has evolved away from the far more conventional forms, such as cars, fish, and vegetables, than other Ghanaian coffin artists of that period created to house the dearly departed. Those coffins traditionally reflected the achievements or aspirations of the deceased.

All of his curvilinear creations represent a true challenge to the hand-tool technology he employs while sculpting these FAVs. With a variety of small hand saws, planes, rasps, and  a tack hammer, Nii Anum cuts and pieces these sculptures together in staves. The only nod to modernity is his process is the use of good old car repair Bond-O to fill the smallest cracks that appear before painting. Although he under-paints the designs the ultimate surface iconography of his work, the detail painting itself is often accompanied by DA Jasper, his friend and a prominent artist within the tradition of hand painted movie posters, also from Ghana.

Nii Anum lives in Ghana with his two daughters.

EXHIBITONS:

1994: “Fantastic After-Life Vehicles from Ghana!”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles

1994:  Peterson Automotive Museum, Los Angeles, CA

1995: Solo Show  “Fantastic After-Life Vehicles from Ghana III”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1997: Solo Show  “Dino Danger”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1998: “Arts on the Point” University of Massachusetts, Boston, 1998 – 2011

1998: “Ancestors: Art and the Afterlife in African Art”, curated by Elizabeth Cameron, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

1998: “African Hairways”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1999:  “Four from Sub-Saharan Africa”, Muckenthaler Cultural Center Foundation, Fullerton, CA

2006:  Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

2006: Solo Show: “The Bomb”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles

2007:  “Black Like We”, Feldman-Horn Gallery, Harvard-Westlake School, North Hollywood, CA

2008: “Passages: photographs in Africa by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher”, Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA

2010: The Juxtaposition from Beyond”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles

2012: “Michael Jackson in the After-Life: Praise Portraits and Commentary Paintings from Ghana”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles

2013: “Wow Women”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles

2014: “Ghana Pop”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2018: “Sea See Si”, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2019 – 2020, Praise Portraits from Ghana: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles

PUBLICATIONS:

1996: Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine, Ernie Wolfe III, Summer 1996, page 54 - 55

1998: The Boston Globe, Christine Temin, January 9, 1998, Living Arts , page D12

2000: Extreme Canvas: Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Ernie Wolfe III, Dilettante Press, 2000

2006: Time Magazine, August 14, 2006, page A12

2006: Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine, Suzanne Williams, November 2006, page 56 - 61

2012: Extreme Canvas: The Golden Age of Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana, Ernie Wolfe III, Kesho Malaika Press, 2012

COLLECTIONS:

Williams College Art Museum, Williamstown, MA 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD