Saturday night 2020

Cornelius Annor painted 'Saturday Night' with what looks like acrylic on canvas, in no particular year - but it feels like a memory. There's a kind of tenderness in the way Annor approaches the paint, not overworked but solid. The colors are muted, dusky, like the end of the day. I like how the table is a solid block of coral, very present, like a stage. Look how the brushstrokes are visible but smoothed, creating a surface that’s both there and not there. The edges are a bit soft, which gives the piece a dreamlike quality, as if the memory is not quite in focus. That poster on the wall, announcing E.T. Mensah's Tempo Band, seems to hold the key to the whole image, it’s a splash of life. It reminds me a little of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, in the way that the figures are posed, thoughtful. Ultimately, this painting is about the mood, not just what's depicted, but the feeling of a Saturday night, caught in time.