By Arnesia Young on May 10, 2021
“Sitter,” 2019
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California (Photo: Robert Wedemeyer)
While bathing his viewer in a world awash with vibrant color, Ghanaian artist Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe forces them to look and truly see the figure staring back at them from the canvas. His evocative portraits explore what it means to be Black in America whether you’re from here or not. And it’s impossible not to be drawn in by the arresting intensity of each subject’s gaze and their cool, collected demeanor. Behind each person is a life and a story.