Top African painter for local exhibit

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Since he began his professional career more than 30 years ago, Ghanaian painter Sami Bentil says portraying Africans and the African continent positively has been a consistent theme in his work. He makes his Caribbean debut on February 1 with 'Sankofantasy', an exhibition at the Red Bones Gallery in Kingston.

The exhibition is scheduled to close February 16 and features more than 12 paintings which will be up for sale. Bentil, 59, described his style as "attention-getting imagery" which has been shown to enthusiastic audiences throughout Africa, Europe and North America.

Bentil began painting professionally in the mid-1970s, shortly after graduating from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in his homeland. He said some of the revolutionary figures who helped shape modern Africa, including the father of his country, Kwame Nkrumah, Leopold Senghor of Senegal and Patrice Lumumba of The Congo, have a strong bearing on his work.

"Africa is an image that I celebrate; it's an acknowledgement of my ethnicity," Bentil told The Sunday Gleaner.

"In my lifetime, Africans have not been portrayed well in books and magazines, and the story I tell is, 'I'm proud to be an African'."

Though he came of age during a revolutionary period in Africa, Bentil pointed out that he stays clear of violence whenever he takes up his brush.

"There are no weapons in any painting of mine. I try to empower the human being and make the human being appreciate what's around them," he said.

Bentil is regarded as one of the leading painters in Africa. To celebrate Ghana's 25th year of independence in 1982, that country's government commissioned him to create 'Onye Otsu Onye Oye' ('Success always crowns good work') which still stands in the Museum of Ghana in the capital, Accra.

His work was also on display at La Galleria in London in September 2007 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence.