Wiz Kudowor Ghana, b. 1957
Wiz Kudowor is a Ghanaian painter whose practice is informed by form, space, and movement.
His compositions often feature the human form, particularly female figures, rendered through fragmented planes, angular contours, and layered surfaces that evoke Cubist and Futurist influences. These formal strategies recall the structural qualities of historical and contemporary African sculptural traditions. Kudowor works with a combination of roller brush and palette knife, techniques that allow him to build up large fields of color while also introducing areas of texture and detail.
With a career that has spanned more than three decades, Kudowor studied fine art at the College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, graduating in 1981. His solo exhibitions have been held at the National Arts Centre, Accra (1990), the Ghana National Museum (2002), and Artists Alliance Gallery, Accra (2014). He has participated in major international exhibitions, including the Johannesburg Biennial (1995), and received the Bronze Prize at the Osaka Triennial (2001). Kudowor has also undertaken public commissions in Ghana, including a relief mural installed in 1992 at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra. His work is held in major collections including the Osaka Prefecture Contemporary Art Collection, Japan; the Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China; the Ghana National Museum; and the African American Museum in Dallas, Texas.
