A Night With Osibisa 2021

Cornelius Annor’s painting, A Night With Osibisa, shows a gathering rendered with care, using oil paint on what looks like a pretty big canvas. I love how the painting builds the scene from the ground up, starting with the geometric floor. Annor uses colour – warm browns and oranges – to create rhythm across the surface, like a song you can see. The figures emerge from this foundation, their forms built with layers of paint, some thick and textured, others thin, almost transparent. Look at the fabric patterns. They tell their own stories, each a burst of energy. There's a sense of movement and music, the kind that makes you want to move. Annor reminds me a little of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, in the way he captures figures in a moment of reflection or connection. Art is all about that exchange, right?