Internationally recognised Ghanaian artist Prof. Ablade Glover has announced to display his new artworks in an exhibition in London and Ghana to mark his 90th birthday on Thursday, November 3, 2023.
Speaking on Accra-based Joyprime’s Drive time personality profile show, the artist said he was not done fulfilling his dreams rather, he is trying to get to the highest point of his life but work-wise, he is there.
“I’m trying to get there, to the highest point. I’m still working. I’m still painting. I’m working now hard because next year I’ve got to exhibit in London with my gallery in London,” he added.
According to the award-winning artist, his greatest wish is to see his works being recognized. “So my achievement, what I want to achieve, perhaps, my work will be recognized more than me. I’m not me. I’m nothing, really. It’s the work, that you leave behind. And that work will stand the test of time. I think that is, if they wake me up in my grave, I’ll say, OK, thank you very much. Let me sleep. But yes, it’s the work. In all my life, that’s what I’ve worked for, that the work will be recognized in time.”
Professor Ablade Glover also expressed his appreciation for recently receiving the ‘Lifetime Achievement Honoree’ at the EMY Africa Awards.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1934 in Accra, Ghana, where he lives and works, Ablade Glover graduated from the Kumasi University of Science and Technology, the Central School of Art and Design in London (1959-1962), and the University of Newcastle on Tyne (1964-1965). He continued his studies at Kent State University where he obtained a Master’s degree and at Ohio State University where he obtained a PhD (1974). After his Ph.D., Professor Ablade Glover taught at the College of Art of Kumasi University until 1998 where he became Head of Department and Dean of the School of Fine Arts.
He received the Flagstar Award from the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ACRAG) in 1998 and was also honored with the Alumni Award from the African-American Institute in New York. He is a permanent member of the Royal Society of Arts in London, featured in the Artists Who’s Who’s, in the Dictionary of Contemporary International Artists and in the Bénézit (reference dictionary of painters, sculptors and engravers from around the world).
He is the founder of the Artists Alliance Gallery which took root with a previous gallery he created in the 60s. This gallery which showcases Pr. Glover’s works also exposes the works of other famous artists such as Qusu-Ankomah , George O. Hugues, as well as local handicrafts.
His favorite themes are constant: the women and mothers from Africa, market scenes that in his eyes are the link between the village and the city, the past and the present, crowds and landscapes. His compositions seem at first abstract but at a distance, reveal very realistic, teeming with life and colors. His painting technique reflects a very Westem style and classicism. Using the warm hues of his country, he portrays vibrant scenes of Ghanaian life
