Olivia Charis Photo
Adae and his father next to the portrait of his late grandmother, at ConnCAT opening of the artist's first solo show.
Adae describes his portrait of his friend Kimberly Cherubin.
New Haveners are likely to know Kwadwo Adae’s work from his murals like the one of Dr. Edward Bouchet on the corner of Henry Street and Dixwell Avenue. Thursday evening, Adae brought his vibrant artwork and personage indoors — and a distinctive approach to connecting with community and nature along with him.
The occasion was an opening reception for Adae’s first-ever local solo exhibition, at the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (ConnCAT) at 4 Winchester Ave.
Residents, relatives, and art lovers alike gathered for the opening to take in the liveliness reverberating from the gallery walls.
The show features selections from the 45-year-old Ghanian-American artist’s “Bloom” and “Kwadrilaterals” series, along with portraitures and some of the original watercolor designs for murals around the city.
Watercolor version of Adae's Edward Bouchet mural.
Adae’s family moved from upstate New York to Connecticut when he was 8. After Adae devoted an entire second-grade test to a doodle, his teacher recommended his parents put him in art classes. Thursday evening, Adae’s father, Frank Adae, recalled taking taking his son to classes and the gardens every Saturday: “He sees what the average person doesn’t see”.
Adae’s unique point of view is evident in both his pieces depicting life, and those without an objective reference.
His portrait series at the exhibition honors Black figures he admires. He includes a self-portrait and a portrait honoring his late grandmother, Akosua Bemah Kumi.
Kwadwo Adae.
Adae said he loves painting portraits from life, and described his process: “You look at someone — you break down their different shapes — their colors.”
When describing his Bloom series, Adae noted that he paints florals specifically during winter. “Winter steals the color out of the landscape,” he said, “and I’m a colorful individual.”
Adae paints from live flowers, which he sources at the Blossom Shop.
Bringing color into dull spaces is the essence of Adae’s art, particularly his murals, which appear in their original watercolor form at the exhibition.
Adae has created murals as far afield as Ecuador and India. He stressed the importance of placing art in spaces for children: “When they go into school, art is there for them”.
Murals are also a way to fight against systemic oppression, he argued.
Painting murals “feels like you’re shouting. It feels like you’re yelling,” Adae said, and “channel[ing] that anger into something beautiful.”
Adae seeks out locations for his murals that have historically been “neighborhoods that are victims of discriminatory redlining practices”, Adae noted. (Click here to read about a community mural project he led in Newhallville in 2020.)
He is also currently planning and gathering volunteers for a 30-by-13 foot orchid mural for New Haven’s Hillside Family Shelter.
Violet Soliloquy Of Phalaenopsis Amabilis
“Everyone — no matter their circumstances — deserves to come home to flowers,” Adae said.
“He’s contagious,” noted ConnCAT Marketing and Promotions Coordinator Christina Goubourn, who worked to bring Adae and his work to the center for the summer.
Adae also showcased Thursday evening six of his 40 abstract pieces he has been creating since graduate school.
“I actually failed my review,” Adae noted, describing his graduate school experience. He was balancing school and raising his new family. Creating art allowed him to be “ able to speak to myself, to heal,” he said. “I have felt so safe and so at home through this, through making art.”
His 36 x 36 abstractions can take a little over half a year to complete. Adae’s abstract works allow viewers into the same space Adae held as he created these pieces.
“You are meant to bring your own experiences to the piece,” he said.
New Havener Yarri Downey noted how she felt drawn into the pieces because of how Adae brings out “the art within the organism.”
“I’m drawn by the fact that I feel like I can jump into,” these pieces, said ConnCAT CEO Genevive Walker.
Adae’s work will be on display at the ConnCat gallery until July 31st.
Frank Adae, the artist's father, admires his son's work.