The Ghanaian artist Tafa Fiadzigbe – known to the art world simply as Tafa – has come a long way. “I grew up in the slums of Ghana, and the slums in the third world are very different from slums here in America,” he said to the Guardian. “I knew people who ate from garbage dumps. When I was growing up, if someone told me I was going to be in the company of people like Bill Clinton and have them support my art, I’d have thought they were crazy.”
Now showing at Chelsea’s Pictor Gallery in New York until 25 February, Tafa’s art is at once visceral, transcendent, and abstract. The pieces at his show include a frenzied protest march against police violence, an ethereal image of a goddess making her ascent, and a homage to Sarah Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman who was exoticized by 19th-century Europeans for her bodily proportions.
Pursuing his vocation, Tafa studied art as a college student in Ghana before setting his sights on New York City. Upon arriving in 1993, he quickly realized he had some major misconceptions about his adopted home. “Originally I thought there were just a few hundred artists in New York. Eventually I realized there were thousands and thousands from all over the world.”
Looking back, Tafa now believes that his lack of knowledge was actually an asset. “Maybe 95% of artists in NYC don’t make a living from their art. I didn’t know how hard it was to make your living from art. If I knew what I knew 10 years later, I probably wouldn’t have done it. I was lucky.”
A lauded innovator with the palette knife, Tafa turns countless lumps of color into paintings that cause intense feelings of motion and exuberance. Although his subjects vary widely, frequent themes are the Black struggle for equal rights, the majesty of contemporary sports, and the rhythms and movement of music. Whatever he is composing, for Tafa, dynamism is key.
“When I paint I like movement, and for the paint to be very dynamic. I use layer and layers, I scratch the paint, all to create the balance of movement and a rippling effect. I don’t want it to be static, I want you to feel the movement and power and energy. I want you to hear the sound and voices of the people, the anger and frustration and all that.”
A breakthrough moment happened for Tafa early on in this time in New York when David Dinkins, who was then in office as the city’s first Black mayor, came to one of Tafa’s shows and bought a piece. Besides being a prominent politician, Dinkins was also a known art collector and a fierce advocate for culture, and so was in a position to get Tafa noticed. “Because of Dinkins, a lot of people started coming to me and saying ‘I saw your art.’”
Pictor Gallery’s director Denise Adler happened to meet Tafa by chance when each of their daughters attended the same high school together. She quickly knew that Tafa was an artist she wanted to pay attention to. “When I met him, I realized he was the real deal. I noticed that he was very quiet and subdued, but his work is so colorful and loud. I love his color choices, his use of paint. I’m fascinated with artists who do texture like he does. It has almost a mixed media quality to it.”
Adler added that she was compelled by Tafa’s ability to combine sensual beauty with substance and depth. “The pieces are beautiful to look at, but they speak volumes to serious topics that are interesting. You look at it once and you see one thing, you look at it again and you see another thing. You see more and more as you look more closely. I love that.”
Professional sports has long been a favored subject of Tafa’s, and he shared that his fascination began when he was a young boy mesmerized by the soccer great Pelé. “Being a child in Ghana, everybody played soccer and knew about him,” he said. Looking back, Tafa laughed at how he had naively assumed Pelé was a compatriot: “I didn’t know he was from Brazil. I thought he was from Ghana.”
For Tafa, part of the attraction of sports is the grandeur of competition and the outsized personalities of elite athletes. This can be seen in a work like Pelé the King, which captures the precision and electricity of the soccer legend’s iconic bicycle kick. Melting into a background of bright red with one leg outstretched toward a soccer ball, Pelé looks less like a mortal than a deity.
“When I look at sport, there’s this religious aspect to it,” said Tafa. “To me, as religion becomes less and less important to parts of the world, now it seems like sports is the new religion. We have the gods and the deities and the saints at the sports bar. These are the myths and the gods of our times.”
In his artistic practice Tafa thrives on intuition, losing himself while the painting reveals itself to him. One such experience occurred live in front of a fervent audience at Madison Square Garden, when the artist composed a painting of the game while it played out before him. To Tafa, the pressure of combining performance, athletics, and his artistic vocation made the experience unforgettable. “It was so intense how everybody was looking at me. It was magical and beautiful.”
Frenzied and exhilarating, yet also calculating and controlled, Tafa’s paintings very much look like the product of a man at one with his canvas. His very diverse output is unified by a singular artistic style that speaks to Tafa’s intense connection to his work. “The painting has its own life, the painting is greater than the artist. So the painting takes you to a different direction from where you want to go. The painting sends me messages. It speaks to me – more than I try to control it, it liberates itself.”
Tafa: The Echoes of Memories is now showing at the Pictor Gallery in New York until 25 February
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
