New exhibits open at the Grunwald Gallery

Axe of Vengeance: Ghanaian Film Posters and Film Viewing Culture

Hand-painted posters based on popular Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood — the Nigerian film industry — Kung Fu and Ghanaian films were used for marketing in 1980s and 1990s Ghana are on display now.

The posters are on loan from Glen Joffe, owner of Primitive Chicago, who will give a gallery talk at 5 p.m. Friday in the gallery. Primitive Chicago collects and sells one-of-a-kind art and artifacts.

During the ‘80s and ‘90s, people living in small towns in Ghana did not have access to movie theaters or videocassette recorders. Entrepreneurs would create mobile cinemas with a VCR, television and gas-powered generator and move from town to town showing pirated films.

In a similar fashion, Ghanaian artists used the materials they had available, flour sacks and oil paints, to make money by painting the film posters.

“They’re oil paint,” Grunwald Associate Director Jeremy Sweet said. “That’s why they’ve been able to be flexible enough and survive, but they’re so worn because they were used for marketing for these private movie shacks in Ghana.”

Painted posters for American action, adventure and horror films such as “Conan the Destroyer” and “Jason vs. Freddy” hang in the gallery. Mixed with these better-known films are posters for Nollywood films such as “The Visitor,” which features voodoo and Ghanaian pentecostal imagery.

No labels are in the gallery because it is impossible to truly identify who the artists were, Sweet said. The posters that are signed usually have something similar to a graffiti tag and not the actual name of the artist.

Visitors to the gallery can watch a selection of Nollywood films in a replicated Ghanaian movie shack. Sweet said the shack was built based on reference photos and is constructed with sheet metal and tin roofing.

“Isakaba Boys,” “Secret Adventure,” “The Snake Girl” and “Oganigwe” will play on a cycle for the duration of the gallery’s opening.

“It seems the higher the drama, the more gore, the more action portrayed, the brighter the colors, the more they’d be seen, and the more they’d sell tickets,” Sweet said. “These were never considered fine art or something that would be cared for in a museum setting. I don’t think any of the artists could ever imagine having their work put up in this manner.”


Media Life
“Media Life” is a collaboration between IU Telecommunications Associate Professor Mark Deuze and Dutch artist Miek van Dongen.

The exhibit features 18 prints from van Dongen’s pen and ink drawings, as well as two projection pieces.

“They were employing similar ideas in his writing and her artwork,” Sweet said. “They thought it would be a good collaboration.”

The prints feature fluid line drawings of human and anthropomorphic forms.

“They’re good quality, good use of wash, good composition,” Sweet said. “But I think, most importantly, is the mood and psychology that’s created by imagery.”

Deuze, whose book is also called “Media Life,” proposed the exhibit to the gallery.

“We always try to have shows that show off people from the University community,” Sweet said.

The gallery opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight. Van Dongen will be at IU for an artist talk Sept. 12.

Deuze received a grant for this show that helped cover the cost of having the work shipped from the Netherlands, Sweet said.

Sweet said the exhibit and book are reflective of how the world has changed in the information age.

“I think this is applicable to what’s happening in society today,” Sweet said. “‘Media Life,’ his book, is about the interweaving of media and information, and it’s changing us as human beings. It’s documenting the effect that it’s having on all of us and society.”

— Kate Thacker