Ben Agbee
The artist Ben Agbee is a seasoned painter and portraitist born in 1966, Ben Agbee lives and works in Accra, Ghana. Agbee’s work is purposefully bold and colourful, illuminative of the vitality and convivial nature of his respective locality. His playfully poetic abstractions are an informative illustration of what it means to balance individuality within the wider community sphere. Ben Agbee – whose full name is Benjamin Agbenyega – was the first of three children born to his father, Emmanuel Agbenyega. During his school days, he realized that creativity and art came naturally to him, and found this the easiest way of expressing ideas. He majored in art, graduating in 1989, and worked for the next four years in advertising and design. However, life was harsh and his salary barely took him to the end of the month with no opportunity to save anything. He decided to augment his monthly earnings by painting, and these sold in no time. Encouraged, he started turning out more and more intricate works, until he realized he had tapped into a talent that has been with him since birth. His family was a family of great artists, notably his uncle Victor Ameyibor, a professional artist in the Volta region of Ghana. Agbee has participated in a series of collective exhibitions in Ghana and abroad, and also held solo exhibits in the U.S.A. (Washington, Chicago, Detroit), Canada and Holland.
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