About the Artist
Hassan Issah
AL HASSAN ISSAH, Born 1993 | Kumasi, Ghana
Hassan Issah (b. 1993) is a Ghanaian artist who lives and works in Kumasi. He has
currently completed an MFA from the Department of Painting & Sculpture, Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Within Issah's expansive practice, he uses painting as a point of entry into his
explorations of ideas on theatricality, objecthood and situations, while raising questions
on the notions of drawing, painting, sculpture and architecture and their potential
interpretations in our contemporary world. Issah's interest in the material and object
culture of Kumasi, his home city and his experiences within the Zongo communities
where he grew up has led him into employing materials such as posters, acrylic/oil
paints, and objects like cast irons/ aluminium, wood and steel pipes. These entities are
usually welded or constructed together into a constellation of objects and installations
with the help of expert local welders and craftsmen that reference aesthetics from
specific epochs in art history (Baroque, Rococo, Abstract Expressionism, Art and Craft
movement, Arabesque and the Victorian decorative arts) that reflect the ordinary.
