Notes

Professor Ablade Glover is a Ghanaian artist and educator, who initially trained at the College of Art and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, before he was awarded a scholarship to study textile design at the Central School of Art and Design in London. Later, Glover received another scholarship, authorised personally by the first president of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, to study Art Education at Newcastle University. Glover completed his master’s degree at Kent State University, and his Doctorate at Ohio University, before returning to Ghana to teach art at KNUST for two decades, ultimately playing a pivotal role in shaping Ghana’s art scene.

Glover’s technique involves applying paint with a palette knife to his canvas in daubs and slashes of vibrant blues, marigolds and hot crimson. Initially, the exquisitely textured canvas appears to be abstract, but on closer inspection the composition is revealed to be teeming with figures. The joyfully coloured and vibrantly saturated surfaces are a testament to Glover’s love and passion for his homeland, focussing on the subject matter of the market space, or more specifically, the interaction that the site for informal commerce facilitates. Negotiating, engaging, connecting, the market crowd in Ghana is made up primarily of women, and it is the energy and bustle of these Ghanaian centres for commerce that Glover returns to repeatedly, editing out the buildings to highlight this site for interaction and connection, celebrating the life and vitality of the women of Ghana.