“If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘You are not a painter,’ then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced.” ~ Vincent van Gogh

 

Richard Mensah is a London based artist who works in different media. He has had no formal art/painting education or training and describes himself as a born artist.

His love of drawing, sketching and painting was noticed at a very young age and in the very early years of his education in Ghana where he was born. Although his artistic talent has always been visible, he was persuaded by his parents to study science instead of art in his secondary education. He went on to study Chemical Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He moved to the United Kingdom in the early 2000s to pursue further studies in Environmental Pollution and Control and has since worked in various roles as an Environmental Scientist, Engineer and a Consultant. 

Richard took a long break for about 15 years from creating art and only started painting again circa 2016. This was after he was challenged by his mom to see if he could still paint. Richard created his first real piece of art after this challenge which  impressed everyone around. After creating this piece, Richard started painting regularly again and hasn't looked back since. Art was and is still his first love and he uses it mainly to communicate, inspire and challenge himself and others who follow his work. Since starting painting again, Richard has been involved in exhibitions and undertaken numerous commissions for private collectors and individuals.   

His style is mainly intuitive - he conceives an idea to paint but often starts the painting project before the idea is fully formed. He relies on his intuitions to bring the concept into reality. This mainly means that he does very little preparation before commencing any paintings and doesn't always know how the pieces of ideas come together to fully bring the concept into reality. His key guiding principle for every painting project is with patience every painting always ends well. He takes inspiration from his African heritage, childhood memories and everyday happenings. 

 

'Richard does not limit himself in his work; he paints and creates as  inspired'.

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Various themes runs through his works. Richard is passionate about social justice and human right issues. The combination of these issues, love of colours, nature and fascination about everyday life scenes show through his work. He is intrigued by shapes, movement, shades and light and tries to capture these in his paintings. His paintings and creations are vivid, bright bold colours, captures various emotions and combines abstract and realism.