(Above: Aliens movie poster with a winged Giger Xenomorph. Photo courtesy of Ernie Wolfe. From the book Extreme Canvas, Death Wish 4 becomes a monster movie in this hand-painted poster. Photo courtesy Brian Chankin and Deadly Prey Gallery, Jurassic Park poster depicting a “bonus scene” not shown in the movie. Photo courtesy Brian Chankin and Deadly Prey Gallery, Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World gets the Ghana poster treatment. Photo courtesy of Brian Chankin, Leonardo’s Cujo poster seems kind of adorable in this poster. Photo courtesy Brian Chankin and Deadly Prey Gallery,)
When Dr. Joseph Oduro-Frimpong, a cultural anthropologist at Ashesi University in Accra, discovered that the owner of a one-man video store in Odorkor was shutting down to go into refrigeration repair, he bought every poster in stock. The bulk of them, which were rented to clubs along with a video, became part of the permanent collection of the Center for African Popular Culture which Frimpong established at Ashesi University.
“I will say the acquisition was both for professional purposes and for nostalgic reasons,” he explains with cool academic precision, declining to say exactly how many posters are in his personal collection.
But, for thirty-six-year-old Robert Kofi Ghartey, there is no academic remove. The posters have shaped him, and the artform is still deliciously alive and still evolving.
“I have lived, been interested, and known the hand-painted movie posters almost all my life,” he says.
Hailing from the small, coastal town of Winneba, Ghartey now runs Ghana Origin Art Gallery in Accra. But, back in the ’80s, he was a poster boy.
“We were responsible for advertising; two of us carried the poster on a wooden board, hand in hand, around the town with a bell to create awareness for the venue. (We also did it to have free entrance to watch the movies that night.)”
We were responsible for advertising; two of us carried the poster on a wooden board, hand in hand, around the town with a bell.
Currently, Ghartey works closely with seven poster artists—among them Stoger, Heavy J., Salvation, and Farkira—all of whom began working for the video clubs in the mid ‘90s (and occasionally the great Leonardo, who began in 1986). All are still making movie posters, most often at the appeal of Brian Chankin. Just as they once painted the names of video clubs like Zaap, Pal Mal, Princess OSU, and Sly Fox they now include Odd Obsession Video Club, as if Chankin might be drawing a crowd. And they were not wrong.
Fueled by sheer unbridled aesthetic glee, Chankin began his hunt for original movie posters from Ghana as soon as he discovered Wolfe’s Extreme Canvas and Thibaut de Ruyter’s 2009 book Ghanavision. He found Ghartey buried deep in the nether pages of the World Wide Web and received about twelve original posters to hang in Odd Obsession. Chankin wasted little time requesting new work.
“I didn’t know if the artists were even still working,” says Chankin, “or if Kofi knew them, or if they would do it, but I asked for all five Death Wish movies—I’m a big Charles Bronson fan—you know, the first two movies are good, but the other three are pretty bad.”
No doubt, it is this sort of appreciation for the maligned, misbegotten, and nearly forgotten that has fueled the rising popularity of Ghana’s movie posters, particularly among cult movie enthusiasts, and their low-brow, art-lovin’ kin. Soon, other commissions began rolling in and Deadly Prey Gallery (named for a low-budget mercenary movie beloved by both Ghartey and Chankin) was born. The collection of eight hundred posters—both old and new—currently resides in the studio adjoining Chankin’s apartment, much to his eternal delight.
Eric Bresler, Director of the Philadelphia
Mausoleum of Contemporary Art, which is home to both the Cinedelphia Film Festival and the local iteration of the Psychotronic Film Society, has hosted three exhibits of work from Deadly Prey, the last one comprised entirely of original African movie title posters. While Bresler has a personal predilection for the road-worn authenticity and style of the original posters, especially those of Mr. Brew, he also recently commissioned an Eraserhead for the PhilaMOCA.
“There is a tension typical in any realm of collecting,” says Bresler, “[between] those who were there first, versus newcomers—authenticity versus imitation. Within the art world the originals would, of course, be considered more valuable than the new commissions since they have that authenticity… [but] it’s really a matter of personal preference. I don’t differentiate between the two time periods, though I do in other aspects of poster collecting.”
The patrons of PhilaMOCA are a receptive and enthusiastic audience for both eras of work, but Bresler says its groups like Everything Is Terrible!—a video blogging site which commissioned an original Jerry Maguire to accompany the world’s largest collection of Jerry Maguire VHS tapes—that really make the internet sit up and click.
For a historian and dealer like Wolfe, who still works with many first-generation poster artists, such commissions are anathema—they devalue the artform. Stripped of utility and made for Western eyes, he insists, the work loses its tension, inventiveness, and fearless abandon.
Stoger must disagree: “I do it all the same, whether it is for a cinema or for a collector.” Yet, he admits to a wistful longing for the Golden Age, and the notoriety it brought him in his own country.
“When we worked for the cinemas we had the chance to see our works going around the country,” says Stoger. “Collectors, they buy only one and you don’t see the [poster or the buyer] again.”
Except, perhaps, on the internet, where the commissions definitely have legs.
Heavy J.’s vivid interpretation of Ghost World—with the Seymour character (played by Steve Buscemi in the movie) wielding a double-barreled shotgun; Doug holding a grenade; and Enid holding Doug’s disembodied head—caught the attention of graphic novel author Daniel Clowes, as well as film director Terry Zwigoff, which, in turn, led to R. Crumb’s deep appreciation of Heavy J.’s valiantly proportioned poster Cramb. Leonardo’s Mrs. Doubtfire, which depicts the title character stabbing Pierce Brosnan through the eye with a broom handle while Robin Williams holds her shoe, made the rounds and helped us all laugh a little through the tears.
Recently, Chankin had a Nigerian movie poster design by Leonardo tattooed on his body, just the latest addition by a growing number of poster-loving tattoo artists. One tattoo is even signed Mr. Brew, a nod to the many forged signatures Chankin has discovered.
“I’m constantly searching for information on Mr. Brew,” says Chankin. Once described as the Jackson Pollock of Ghanaian poster art, Mr. Brew is notorious among collectors for getting drunk and painting, while still achieving zeniths in the genre—such as his Predator mash-up featuring the three-breasted mutant from Total Recall and Arnold Schwarzenegger in his role from The Terminator. “He’s been missing for eight years or so, but we have a book on him coming out on Featherproof in 2019. It will be the first monograph on a single Ghanaian movie-poster artist.”
We can’t wait.
(Below: Mrs. Doubtfire gets revenge in this interesting interpretation of the Robin Williams comedy, photo courtesy Brian Chankin and Deadly Prey Gallery, Twin Peaks poster (with very scary Log Lady log), a very horrifiying interpretation of The Gaurdian, photo courtesy of Ernie Wolfe Gallery. From the book Extreme Canvas 2.)
This Articled first appeared in Hi-Fructose Issue 50 from 2019, which is sold out. You can get our latest issue by subscribing to Hi-Fructose here. Your support in our independent publication is appreciated and crucial to us. Thanks for reading!
