Adanfo Pa 2022

Cornelius Annor’s "Adanfo Pa" is a painting of two figures made with oil paint, and an incredible eye for tonal variation. There's something beautiful about the way Annor uses light and shadow to create form. The faces of the men are painted with such care, there is a real depth to the figures. Notice the patterns on the shirt of the man seated on the left, the way the eye is allowed to travel around the painting. There is a wonderful contrast with the flat floral surface of the wallpaper behind the figures. The way the painting is built up, layer upon layer, gives a sense of the artwork's own history, the labor and time involved in its making. This reminds me of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, in the way that the figures seem so real, yet have emerged from the artist's imagination. It's like Annor is inviting us into a world that exists somewhere between memory and invention.