Article by Martta Kelly
Originally published in West Orange City Lifestyle
Painter Describes His Art as ‘Movies on a Canvas’
As a young man, Kwaku Debrah knew that creating art was going to be a large part of his life. Born in Ghana, he studied technical drawing in high school and later, upon moving to the United States, he attended college in Michigan, where he pursued software design. “I always liked to draw, going back to when I was a toddler,” he says.
It was the summer of 2022 when Debrah received a “calling” to start painting. “I knew that my life’s path was leading me to become a visual artist,” he says. “This is what I was destined to do.” He studied the work of his favorite artists––Henry Taylor, Edgar Degas, and Cecily Brown—and learned about art from ancient cultures.
Debrah, who paints mostly in acrylics, describes his art as “movies on a canvas.” “Art is not a reproduction of something we already see. It makes you think about things in a way that you never thought before.” His 6-year-old son, Prince, is an artist as well. “He’s getting pretty good at drawing,” Debrah says. “He’s my major inspiration.”
Website: www.kwakudebrah.com/home
CREATIVE / ARTIST
Kwaku Debrah is an Ghanaian visual artist currently living and working in New Jersey, who works in painting, drawing and sculpture. Born and raised in Ghana till he finished high school, then attended college in Trinidad and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Andrews University, Michigan in software design. Kwaku Debrah always liked to draw since he was a toddler, and wanted to be an architect or graphic designer. When he started high school (Ridge Church School), he opted for Technical Drawing and Visual Arts as his major. These early high school period is where he honed his technical drawing skills with tools. Later in high school and college, he liked courses like physics, because he liked drawing diagrams from the text books and that made it easier to learn. Throughout his adult life he remained creative, and eventually found his original calling and started painting in the summer of 2022. He said God told him to paint, so he is going to keep painting forever.
DECEMBER 2023
A Vibrant Celebration of NJ Local Arts: West Orange Arts Council’s Grand Reopening
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JULY 2023
West Orange Arts Council Summer Pop-Up Exhibit - 07.30.2023 https://woarts.org/photo-gallery/#19csyBQpcCl8vrh1DtKORsjeQvc6baZP7
RLS Media Solutions Broadcasting - 'Sizzling Summer' Pop-Up Exhibit at West Orange Arts Center Features Local Member Artists
July 21, 2023
NJFAMILY.com - Summer Pop-Up Art Exhibit August 06
https://www.njfamily.com/events/summer-pop-up-art-exhibit/
April 9 2023A Marvelous Black Boy Art Show - New York BKLYN Studios, 415 Albee Square, New York, New York 11021, United State
