Adae Unveils ​“Studious 6,” Heads For Himalayas

A painting injury last winter left Kwadwo Adae’s left his arm in a sling and forced a hiatus from his prolific pace as one of the city’s most popular muralists. His injury was not caused by a fall from a ladder or from slipping on wet paint. The artist said he lost his ​“powers” for six weeks after developing severe tendinitis from too much painting.

With his own Adae Fine Art Academy and rapidly expanding list of murals and paintings throughout the city, the occupational hazard is understandable. On the plus side, Adae said he became ambidextrous as a result of being partially incapacitated, and now alternates the use of his arms when painting to avoid tendinitis flare-ups.

I recently caught up with Adae (full name pronounced K‑way-jo Uh-dye), now recovered, at B‑Natural Cafe on Chapel Street’s Sherman’s Alley, where he was unveiling his most recent mural, The Studious Six.. Nestled in a recessed archway in the otherwise architecturally generic space, the six-by-eleven-foot mural pays homage to cafe and laptop culture, executed with Adae’s unmistakable, stylized flair and egalitarian color scheme. The subjects’ flesh tones are re-imagined in bright, saturated color, suggesting a nonjudgmental universality of person-hood rather than race.

Arriving at B‑Natural Cafe dressed in banana-yellow slacks and a retro floral print shirt with his preferred long-pointed collars — topped with a more formal pin-stripped suit vest — Adae had the same flair for fashion as the characters in his murals. His love of color, he noted, was imprinted early in life when his family wrapped him in the traditional, bright-colored clothing of the Ashanti tribe of their native Ghana — a long way from his birthplace in Rochester, N.Y.

Even the penny skateboard tucked under his arm — one of the lean 38-year-old’s favored modes of transportation — was sky blue.

The Studious Six, a pyramidal composition of six figures with faces pressed to their laptops, books, or each other, was based on Adae’s direct observations over several days in B‑Natural, as he observed body language, gestures, and interactions there. To provide contrast and variation from the dominating bright color scheme, Adae added several areas in black and white that are also laden with symbolism. A boat powers under a starry night, a nod to the New Haven harbor’s hard-working and altruistic tug boats that ​“exist to help others.” Centrally located in the mural is a figure suited in a nine-of-spades jersey, a reference to the city’s Ninth Square historic district.

His murals can also be seen at Westville’s Mitchell Library; at West Haven Mental Health Clinic, where he teaches periodic art classes to young adults; at Neville Wisdom’s Orange Street fashion studio…

… and at State Street’s Marjolaine Bakery, site of his Eiffel Tower mural.

He expects his cabaret dancers mural at the now defunct 9th Note jazz club to be lost to a new business. He has been invited to paint another mural for the owner, who has relocated 9th Note to more hospitable quarters in Stamford, Conn.

To get through the long winter months, Adae said he often paints the flowers he purchases at New Haven’s Blossom Shop on Orange Street.

A series of his close-cropped, large-format blossom paintings expressed through strong lines and vivid color at Neville Wisdom’s fashion store in Westville has been selling in the unannounced exhibit.

Presently taking in the sights of Spain, Adae is en route to his next mural project, on a mission of ​“peace and compassion” at the APV School in Tehri, India, a meditation center and school for children living in remote areas of the Himalayas. There, with the help of students, Adae will create a large mural to honor the Buddha. The project was successfully crowdfunded through a Kickstarter campaign, raising nearly $8,000 to cover all related expenses. His projected itinerary and project was illustrated in a charming, stop-motion video of watercolor paintings than can be viewed on the Kickstarter site.

Adae said he became interested in meditation three years ago through the Breathing Room Yoga Center, located in the building that is also home to his arts academy. His meditation teacher, Khushi, who also teaches at the APV school in India, encouraged Adae to undertake the international odyssey. ​“Whether the idea of community is local, national, or international, all people benefit greatly from art,” Adae wrote on his Kickstarter campaign page. ​“It is a signifier that someone, somewhere, took the time to create something more interesting, engaging, colorful, than what was previously there.”

Adae will be back in New Haven on Sept. 24 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the the Adae Fine Arts Academy. Artwork by students of the academy is currently on display through October 3 at the NHFPL Ives Gallery. For more information about the school, visit the website.