Owusu-Ankomah

Biography

In 2004 Owusu-Ankomah withdrew into seclusion for almost four years. He reflected, meditated, read, and coined the word “Microcron”: this was his name for what he said was the “symbol of symbols”, together with the theory and philosophy that came with it.

He was born on 24 October 1956 in Sekondi, then in the Gold Coast, now Ghana. From 1971 to 1974 he studied at the Ghanatta College of Art in Accra. Achimota College near Accra, mentioned in some accounts of his life, is reported by some sources to be connected with his studies too; the sources differ here, and I would not treat it as established.

In 1979 he began travelling to Europe, meeting artists and gallery owners. In 1986 he settled in Bremen and was thereafter regarded as an expatriate artist. His earliest known solo show took place as early as 1977 at the Art Centre in Accra, and in 1989 at the Übersee-Museum in Bremen he showed the project “From Sharpeville to Soweto”. The basis of his large canvases was the system of adinkra signs, used by the Asante and other Akan peoples. He brought these signs into the space of gallery art, keeping much of their original meaning. His themes were identity and the body. In the later, mostly black-and-white works the figures were covered in complex, almost invisible symbols against a ground filled with similar signs; the whole figure was given away only by an eye, a nose or an ear, sometimes picked out by a thin red line. Writers on his work mention the influence of Michelangelo, of Renaissance art in general, of Chinese ideograms, and of the philosophy contained in the adinkra signs themselves.

Later his interests shifted towards science and metaphysics: the evolution of humankind, consciousness, the nonlocality of the soul. He was convinced that other highly advanced civilizations had existed before Egypt and had mastered sacred geometry, which he used in his work. Crop circles appeared in his later pieces: in this way, in his own words, he bore witness that we are not alone in the universe.

A reviewer in the journal Nka noted in 2025 that the exhibition “Microcron Begins” (2014) showed a sharp turn to colour, to tone instead of line, and to a more hierarchical composition, while in the black-and-white pieces two figures now appeared in place of one, which added energy and depth.

In 2005 the National Museum of Ghana in Accra held the exhibition “Heroes, Sages and Saints”, and in 2011 October Gallery in London showed “Microcron – Kusum: Secret Signs – Hidden Meanings”. His work was shown in Germany, Britain, the US, South Africa, South America and Asia. He collaborated with Giorgio Armani: a clothing line for the Red Campaign raised money to fight AIDS in Africa. According to one source, in 2006 he was invited to make works for the Art Edition project for the FIFA World Cup. His works are held by the British Museum in London, the Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

Owusu-Ankomah died on 6 February 2025.