The ‘Ghana Movie Posters’ show in the Bongout showroom is a collection of paintings, certainly unfamiliar to the art – college trained eye. The exhibition consists of the actual promotional posters for the cinema in two towns in Ghana - Accra and Kumasi. The cinema industry is a term to describe the mobile cinemas there that in material description can be reduced to a TV monitor, a VCR and an electricity generator. Currently, these cinemas are provided with films from the 5 major local video clubs that have decreased to this number the last decade. During the 80’s the market of videotapes seemed upcoming so those video clubs were about 40. These paintings are hanged on the walls of the video clubs to catch the customers’ eyes and advertise the films. All of the posters are hand made and the materials are cheap and disposable. For instance, instead of canvases other fabrics are used such as potato bags. Despite their purpose of existence and disposability they are loaded with a genuine artistic handcraft quality.
posters/photo:bongoutThe imagery is usually grotesque and violent as it is pursuing impressions. Descriptive of the film’s content as the images are; they are raw and authentically hardcore since they serve the purpose of promoting mostly cult films of the 80’s that vary from sci-fi to horror and deal with monsters, half humans-half creatures, zombies, killer bandits, genetically modified animals, splutter and war. The painting techniques as a result are realistic to depict surreal situations with a special personal artistic approach as the main painters were but a few. The naivety of the painting methods enriches the works with a special look as if they are to depict sacred African rituals that involve monstrous creatures and human sacrifices.
bongout/photo:peThe curation of the show is interestingly contextualising the posters into an artistic environment with them being visually very strong. The viewing eyes of a Berlin show as well differ completely from the posters’ original presentation philosophy resulting to a space of almost social observation of those specific objects. On the opening day of the show, the stylised roughness of it all reminded the merging of a radical’s art space and a tattoo studio.
Once again, the western-culture gallery attendants have to decide through their school, mass media and University morals which way to look at something totally alien that when put in the art space is as if being examined in a socio-cultural laboratory. Certainly the artworks themselves carry a sparkle of painting energy, an African heat, D.I.Y. morals and aesthetics and purity.
Bongout Berlin: Ghana Movie Posters 2008/Feb 6 - March 1st
