Gideon Appah

Gideon Appah draws on childhood memories and dreams, as well as West African landscapes and popular culture for his dazzling, bold, and jewel-toned paintings.

His work investigates his childhood as well as local mythologies, ethereal landscapes, rivers, domestic interiors, and recurring figures both imagined and known, such as his grandmother and brother. The artist often paints in tones of royal blue, crimson, dark orange, and white over found and collaged posters, prints, photographs, and film stills, many of these centering on occupations his family members have held within their community such as barber and tailor shops.

Gideon creates dream-like worlds through a fauvist lens, examining personal and homeland histories such as Ghanaian postcolonial cinema, leisure culture, and nightlife, using newspaper clippings from the 1950s through the 80s as source material.

He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana in 2012. Recent solo exhibitions include Beneath Night and Day, Pace Gallery, New York, USA (2026); Beyond The Shadows: Gideon Appah Poetic Vision, Gallery 1957, Paris, France (2025); How to Say Sorry in a Thousand Lights, Pace Gallery, London, UK (2023); More Luck, Mitchell Innes and Nash, New York, NY, USA (2022). His work is held in public collections worldwide including Pinault Collection, Paris, France; Absa Museum, Johannesburg; Musée d’Art Contemporain Africain Al Maaden, Marrakesh, Morocco; and Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.

Gideon is a 2026 recipient of the Tyburn Foundation Affiliated Fellowship at Civitella Ranieri.