An Artistic Odyssey from Ghana to South Pasadena
During the entire month of September the South Pasadena Public Library will be exhibiting paintings by artist Isaac Kobla Gavor in its display case near the checkout desk. Isaac’s vividly colorful paintings are inspired by the people and cultures of Ghana, West Africa where he lived before moving to South Pasadena in 2008. His landscapes and still life paintings are rooted in African tribal mythology and combine the styles of Expressionism, Cubism, and Abstract Art. The greater purpose of Isaac’s art is to educate viewers about Africa. By being socially relevant, his paintings reflect the fact that there is so much to be done to eliminate poverty, hunger, suffering, and corruption –as well as the need to improve education and healthcare.
Isaac Kobla Gavor was born in 1984 in the village of Vakpo, located in Ghana’s Volta Region. Beginning at the age of 6, Isaac helped support his family by farming and harvesting maize, cassava, yams, and beets. He also began attending the only local school that offered a drawing class. There he saw illustrations in storybooks and newspapers and his love for drawing began. Afterwards, if he was not drawing at school, he was sketching at home. The village life in Ghana’s Volta region inspired his sketching of clay houses, trees, fish, festivals, rituals, and childrearing.
Art materials were not readily available in the poor village of Vakpo so Isaac collected charcoal from burned firewood and his mother bought cardboard from the local market.
When Isaac first visited Vakpo Secondary School, he saw a painting of an African woman holding a baby on her back while also balancing a pot on top of her head. He was inspired by this to draw pictures with a similar subject matter.
In 2005 for a public artworks project at Volta Regional Hospital in Ho, Ghana, Isaac completed 70 paintings to adorn the walls of the children’s ward. He also donated many paintings to the headquarters of Cross Cultural Solutions, a nonprofit located in Hohoe, Ghana and to 3 other townships. In 2004 Isaac graduated from Senyou Art Works in Ghana and Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Ghana. Isaac immigrated to America in 2008. Now Gavor’s paintings are also in private collections in Canada, England, and, of course, the United States |
