Jeremiah Quarshie

Ghana / Germany, B. 1985

"Jeremiah Quarshie was born in Accra, Ghana. He lives and works in Karlsruhe, Germany. Quarshie obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana in 2007.

Using the "politics of painting" and its traditional formalistic concerns as metaphors, he displays an acute social awareness in examining the connection between people who have previously been historically and culturally divided. These divisions have occurred because of social, economic or geographical conditions that have manifested on the African continent.

Through his portraiture, he documents the lives of people in fabricated and genuine roles, using his own friends or so-called "ordinary women" who he scouted for as his painting subjects. Quarshie's over-arching thematic concerns pertain to concepts of "hope against failing political conditions." With a keen interest in historical people and events, Quarshie makes subtle and sometimes bold references to such in his quest to state the recurring conditions and contexts that exists in different times and conditions.

Quarshie began exhibiting in 2007. He went on to exhibit internationally at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA), Amsterdam (2012) and Gallery 1957 at 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York (2017). Quarshie has also participated in a number of shows in London, Munich, Marrakesh, Cape Town and Paramaribo.

His work forms part of numerous local and international collections such as The Zeitz Museum, Cape Town, The Harn Museum of Art, Florida, The Seth Dei Foundation, Accra and The World Bank Collection, Washington D.C. among others.

EXHIBITIONS

RECOGNITION

• Featured at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (2012)
• Exhibited at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art
• Presented at 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York (2017)
• Work in The Harn Museum of Art, Florida
• Work in The World Bank Collection, Washington D.C.
• Work in Zeitz Collection, Cape Town
• Work in Philbrook Museum of Art, Oklahoma
• Work in Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakech
• Work in Foundation Gandur pour l'Art, Geneva, Switzerland
• Work in Seth Dei Foundation, Accra, Ghana
• African Artists' Foundation (AAF) Residency, Lagos, Nigeria (2017)
• Gray and Gray Gallery at Art Karlsruhe (2022, 2023)
• Gray and Gray Gallery at Positions Berlin (2022)
• Retro Africa Gallery at Art X Lagos (2019)

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