Adjoa Adobea 2022

Cornelius Annor made this painting, *Adjoa Adobea*, using confident strokes and a vivid palette. You can tell, can’t you, that this painting has come into being through feeling—feeling what it’s like to be Adjoa Adobea, feeling what it’s like to be the painter Cornelius Annor painting her. Imagine standing where Annor stood, palette in hand, conjuring this scene. The paint is applied so directly, so plainly, that the painting just *is*. I wonder if, like me, Annor sometimes feels like a conduit for the image—allowing it to come into being with their help, as opposed to inventing it. The patterned fabric of Adjoa Adobea's dress is so alive and electric, so different from the flat blocks of blues and purples that make up the background, but somehow the painting holds together in a coherent way. The painting is a reminder that artists are in an ongoing conversation across time, inspiring each other's creativity. Painting is a form of expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.