John Kofi Aryee
painter, graphic artist, Ghana
John Kofi Aryee
painter, graphic artist, Ghana
John Aryee is an artist in his on right; he has never had any direct tutelage in art or attended any art institution. He mostly attributes his passion for art by the location of where he was born and raised.

He was born in the Western Region of Ghana, Essikadu near Sekondi, where his parents moved to sojourn. At a tender age, he started drawing and sketching on his own, the beautiful beaches, villages, and rivers along the Western Region of Ghana.

He was educated at St. Paul's Catholic School, which he completed over 40 years ago. Between then and now Kofi has had a very wide working experience. For nearly 10 years he was in the Judiciary Service as a Court Official, he resigned and joined the Electricity corporation of Ghana in the 70's but the crave to develop his artistic capabilities made him to resign and concentrate on his works. He later joined a West German who had then established a commercial Art Agency in Accra. This contact with agency proved a turning point in his career. Because it was detected that Kofi had a different artistic approach and style, and was assigned special projects.

John Kofi Aryee held his first exhibition in Accra in 1968 at the Arts Centre and has since held many others. He is a member of the Ghana Artist Association now Ghana Visual Arts Association.

Mr Aryee who is better known by his greeting cards with the "Trotro" or Mammy lorries, combines the attributes of contemporary artist with those of traditional artist; those of commercial artist and graphic designer.

He keeps a private studio and a gallery in the compound of the National Museum, Accra. Most of Mr Aryee's works are in prints and could be obtained as such. His originals are also obtainable.

these pages submitted to africancraft.com by John Kofi Aryee, Jul. 2002 -- last updated, Feb. 2022