ALMIGHTY GOD (KWAME AKOTO)

AFRICA EXPLORES, SUSAN VOGEL (NEW YORK), 1991
PLUS JAMAIS SEUL, MAISON ROUGE (PARIS) 2016/17
EXHIBITION #1.1, THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING (LONDON) 2012

AFRICA EXPLORES, EXHIBITION CATALOGUE, SUSAN VOGEL (NEW YORK), 1991

Almighty God (Kwame Akoto) is a professional sign-painter and lay-preacher, whose graphic messages and conceptual imagery have been championed by the likes of artist Hervé di Rosa and curator Susan Vogel. Trained in sign and vehicle painting as a teenager, Almighty God established his studio in the mid-70s - God Almighty Art Works - to further his career and earn a living. Yet as his prolific output developed, so a much more profound and personal practice emerged, motivated by his quest for truth and redemption.

God Almighty’s production explores moral and spiritual philosophy, warns against physical, sexual and narcotic diversion, and seeks to uncover familial and political intrigue. His moral imperatives and conceptual strategies sit alongside observations of great intimacy and sensitivity. This prolific and potent practice occupies a distinct position in contemporary African art. God Almighty is an outlier, yet he is also an elder statesman - as unique as he is quintessentially African. Like a free-jazz trumpeteer, he tests and breaks the limits of each composition, with a pop sensibility, graphic elegance and his signature poetic text.

God Almighty’s work has been exhibited in Susan Vogel’s Africa Explores (1991), Hervé di Rosa’s Plus Jamais Seul at Maison Rouge (2016-2017) and at The Museum of Everything (2012).