On the brink of abandoning his art career and pressured to enlist in the army, Michael Blebo found an unexpected lifeline through an agency devoted to promoting African art to collectors worldwide.
Just as the Ghanaian artist was prepared to quit, he missed a call from an unfamiliar number. “In early February, I prayed before bed, asking for a sign by noon the next day, or I’d leave painting behind,” says 31-year-old Blebo, from Nuhalenya in Greater Accra. “I’d done everything I could as an artist but saw no future in it, especially as I support my mother, bedridden father, and four sisters.”
The call was from PieceUnique, a new agency for African artists offering him representation. Founded by Nigerian artist Oluwole Omofemi and entrepreneur Bayo Akande, PieceUnique seeks to “discover and spotlight African talent, bringing it to a global audience.” The agency intends to empower African artists by challenging the traditional gallery model and connecting them with collectors worldwide.
Blebo’s first solo exhibition was held in London in June, followed by a showcase at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Somerset House, where all four of his abstract pieces sold. His work is now on display at the Searching for Roots and Expression exhibition at Coutts Bank’s London headquarters until October 25.
His art, deeply inspired by Ghanaian architecture, often incorporates local building materials—mud, clay, and straw—as a basis for his abstract creations. He also uses pigments made from natural elements like butterfly pea, red ochre, and charcoal, drawing on ideas from his travels across Africa. The works exhibited at 1-54 were crafted in September during a two-week residency in Ibadan, Nigeria, inspired by the city’s iconic brown rooftops and created with ochre and pastel on paper.
“The first thing that caught my eye in Ibadan was those roofs,” he says. “It wasn’t something I planned; it was just the beauty that struck me. I thought, how do they have such beautiful roofs?”
Born in 1993 in Asamankese, in Ghana’s Eastern Region, Blebo’s passion for art started young, inspired by a cousin who drew cars. Despite encouragement to join the military, he resisted but now wears a beret “to make my family happy, as if they got what they wanted,” he jokes. “So now, I’m like a soldier—a creative soldier. The beret has been my identity for five years.”
Trained as a sculptor at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Blebo draws inspiration from his environment. He has spent the past five years living in Nuhalenya, where he also raises livestock and mentors local youth in a community with high dropout rates. “People don’t value school here; young girls are becoming mothers without any sense of the value of education,” he notes.
Blebo frequently conducts in-depth fieldwork, exploring villages and traditional structures. Last year, he traveled to the Sirigu and Tiébélé regions in northeastern Ghana and southeastern Burkina Faso, where he studied the intricate earth murals crafted by Sirigu women, embodying the cultural fusion of art and architecture.
In Burkina Faso, he met Kaye Tintama, an elderly Sirigu artist known for her contribution to the Tiébélé murals. “She worried that younger women were abandoning traditional painting. She was so happy to see someone keen to continue the practice,” he recalls.
Blebo’s guiding motto, “go to town,” was instilled by a university professor who encouraged students to seek inspiration in the marketplace. He views artists as investigative journalists: “We observe, make discoveries, bring our insights back to the studio, and experiment. This approach has taken me across Ghana, and I’ve come to appreciate life through these journeys.”