DENNIS DOE TAMAKLOE
Träume einer Schildkröte
22.11.2009 – 10.01.2010

Dennis Doe Tamakloe studied at the art academy in Kumasi, Ghana. He came to Berlin in 1994 to bring the traditional wisdom of the African continent into a crossover with modernity, because in his painting the connection of the African people with nature and its five elements is palpable. But African joy of color, emotions and the deep relationships between everyone and everything also find expression in his works.

In his current works, he combines these African aspects with signs of Berlin’s urban subculture. “Tags” from graffiti artists (signature abbreviations of the respective painter) inspired him to create his paintings in Berlin. This is also the case with the painting “Großer Optimist”, which can be seen in the exhibition. It provides a humorous insight into the life of an African fisherman. For Doe Tamakloe, Africa seems to be an inexhaustible source of positive life energy and a forward-looking will to survive. He himself says: “Humor relaxes and opens hearts with a smile”.

Further “tags” from the Berlin hip-hop scene then led to an innovative, contemporary series of pictures. In this way, he makes connections across continents, space and time at an artistic interface, because graffiti as an element of the hip-hop art world in its pure underground form has its roots in Africa. Houses, squares and walls in Africa have always been painted and made tangible with enigmatic messages for the initiated. African-American graffiti painters have continued this old tradition from their native Africa with the can since the 1970s, starting in New York and setting a worldwide movement in motion. Chanting in the style of African griots (storytellers), the “turntablism” of hip-hop deejays as the contemporary equivalent of African tam-tams and graffiti are nourished by the ancient and complex cultures of Mama Africa. Traditional dances between heaven and earth have been practiced in Africa since time immemorial. The B`Boys (break dancers) have anchored many meanings and above all the aspects of peaceful and creative togetherness in their dance art all over the world.

Dennis Doe Tamakloe takes up the “tags” of rhythm and gesture and creates a motif from his home continent in a contemporary yet traditional painting form. He thus becomes a mediator between worlds and the arts, incorporating the past, the present and the future.

Tamakloe was born as one of 18 children of Togbui Nyaho Tamakloe IV and thus as the son of a royal family in the western border region between Ghana and Togo. The father, the grandfather and all ancestors in the maternal line are also
maternal line are also accorded absolute respect. Ritual art is created in the families and communities, which has been a great inspiration to many Western artists for their own works. While the avant-garde Western art scene is often bent on judging the arts of Africa as everyday or folk art with the eyes of ethnologists, African people today, who have not yet been completely liberated from the censure and condescension of the colonial era, are self-confidently asking themselves whether it is not pure formal aesthetics or even decoration when sculptures or paintings in Europe & Co. are so far removed from people’s lives. For example, an African marabout in Senegal recently wondered how a conceptual artist could depict his father artistically. Such thoughts are equally allowed here and there! Turtle Dreams will contribute to this discourse. These are exciting and open times. A paradigm shift is in the air!

Anne Schmeckies

Curated by Anne Schmeckies.