Dankyi Mensah

Dankyi Mensah was born in Accra, Ghana. Mensah completed his formal art education in 2001 from the Ghanatta College of Art and Design, Accra, Ghana. Since 2003, Mensah has done several exhibitions throughout the nation and abroad. A reputed artist in the worldwide art community, he has been part of major shows like Kumerican Flowers, Since 1957 - Art Center, Ghana, Reflecting Our Heritage, Accra Hotel, Ghana, Culture In Confluence, Goethe Institut and Alliance Française, Ghana, A Tale of Two City, European Union Month, Ghana, among others.

Mensah's works are documentation of the development in the figurative format of the ongoing urban, social and political landscape of the country. His works reflect contemporary Ghanaians and African society in the vibrant and contrasting urban and social life portraiture. The portraiture presents reality to the viewer in an uncanny way. The joy and happiness in his works balance with a somber essence. His figures are retellings of the struggle for livelihood, dignified human life, and existential crisis in this world. Amusing and vibrant, the detailed observation of his motifs reveals the unsettling fact of societal hypocrisy and pseudo-reality.

The painting's rich and high tensity bright-colored background represents modernity and new age-appropriation. Pushing us into a conversation, the figures are painted with a strong demeanor, powerful gaze toward the viewer, and subtlety. Mensah's narratives are successful in creating an 'elephant in the room' sort of situation. 

Dankyi Mensah lives and works in Accra.