Fowokan

Who is Fowokan?

George "Fowokan" Kelly is a visual artist who lives in Britain and exhibits using the name "Fowokan". Fowokan's work is full of the ambivalence he sees in the deep-rooted spiritual and mental conflict between the African and the European. His work is rooted in the traditions of pre-colonial Africa and ancient Egypt rather than the Greco-Roman art of the west. Coming to the visual arts late in life he deliberately chose not to be trained in western art institutions as he felt that these institutions could not teach him what he wanted to know. They being too deeply entrenched in their own traditions with little or no understanding or interest in the things that interested him most - the ideas that lie behind the art and culture of Africa.