Joseph Amedokpo   

Breaking NEWS!! Joseph Amedokpo has been selected by Dell Computers to design their (Product) RED laptop , benefiting the elimination of AIDS in Africa.

At night Joseph Amedokpo sees his next painting. Dreaming, he will see the characters and gods of his West African community at play or work. The tales and fables of his childhood growing up in theYoruba and Ewe cultures of coastal West Africa come alive and he sees the gods dance, the women carrying loads to market, the griot singing his way through the village, clanging his bells as he chants the news. By the morning the red dust from the clay soil has settled over all, and Joseph brushes it away, and starts painting.

"Red is my favorite color," says Joseph. "From red I can make so many other colors. It is very important in our traditions, too. Red is the color of blood, which is life, and our soil, which feeds us. And red is one of the main colors of many of our gods, like Mamiwata, who can heal the sick.

Joseph Amedokpo was born in Badougbe, a small village near the town of Vogan, Togo, (West Africa) in 1946, and moved to Lagos, Nigeria at the age of eight where he received his education and art training, receiving a scholarship to the Yaba Trade Center where he studied fine art from 1966-1968. After returning to Vogan in the early eighties to care for his family (he was the eldest brother) after his mother fell ill, he has from that time supported himself and his family through his painting. He lives with his wife and has five children.

Vogan is located about 15 miles north of the Atlantic Ocean and about the same distance from Benin, Togo`s neighbor to the east. A sleepy rural town that comes alive on Fridays with the largest traditional market in Togo, Vogan is centered in the Gold Coast/Slave Coast swath that stretches from Ghana into Nigeria. An area rich in history and unique culture- Ouidah, a former major slave shipping port and now center of a python worshipping Vodun cult, is not far away in Benin; Abomey, the ancient capitol of the once powerful Fon kingdom, lies to the east, and many villages in this area trace their roots to Ghana and the Ashantis. Once turbulent, the area now generally shares the common cultural heritage of ancestor worship and the spiritist based religion of Vodun.

Joseph`s art comes from this ancient culture, as it exists today. He paints using locally available oils, which he blends himself to the shades he wants. His canvases are recycled flour sacks, washed and stretched. His studio forms part of his family compound; a tin roof shelters him from the intense African sun and the seasonal rains as he works. As he paints, Joseph often talks to the frequent visitors. He listens to shortwave radio from other parts of the world, and on a blackboard he scribbles the names of people and events he is curious about. Katrina. Tsunami.The current crop of political leaders. His knowledge and opinions stretch far as he ponders the strength and frailties of mankind, as he paints. His paintings touch on the failures and weaknesses of people, as well as their core strength, their hopes. The aids crisis in Africa. How all kings eventually dance naked, brought down to earth with the rest of us.

His art covers a wide swath of the old and the new, in this area, and he has seen some success as his paintings are increasingly sought out and collected internationally. He hopes his participation in Project Red will expose his art to more people, and he is glad that his paintings will be helping fight aids in Africa.