Desmond Tjonakoy
Desmond Tjonakoy is of Ghanaian descent. He has been associated with Outsider Art Ateliers and Bijzonder Amsterdams since 2011. He likes to work with pencil and fineliner on themes that have to do with Black culture such as music, religion and history. For example, he draws portraits of Black icons such as fashion model Naomi Cambell and West Coast rapper MC Eiht and works on his own mythology around the characters 'Carla' and 'the Black Lion', where the latter takes on monsters and demons to fight the battle between to settle good and evil. Lately, his work has increasingly focused on the history and struggles of Black people. Desmond has participated in several art projects: an international Erasmus project in 2016/17 with workshops and presentations in Cork (Irl) and Brighton (UK). In 2020/21 he designed a t-shirt for their collection in collaboration with streetwear label Patta for the 'Outsiderwear' project. Desmond is one of the winners of the prestigous Euward prize and his work will be exhibited in the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2024.
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Exposities
2024 Haus der Kunst Munich - Euward9 Award winnaar 3e prijs
2024 No Limits Art Castle Amsterdam - Welcome to the castle; The Best Of No Limits! Art Castle
2024 Outsider Art Galerie - Express Your Freedom
2023 The Grand Palace of Everyone - No Limits Art Castle bij Nest Den Haag
2022 Special Arts Amersfoort | 150 jaar Mondriaan
2021 - 2022 Outsider Art Museum | For the love of art
2021 Koppelkerk Bredevoort
2021 Outsiderwear Festival, Patta Store
2020 Outsider Art Galerie | Het Gewone is Bijzonder
2019 Erasmus Gallery Rotterdam
2018 - 2019 Outsider Art Gallery | Raw Beauties,
2017 - 2018 Outsider Art Museum | Nieuwe Meesters
2017 Outsider Art Galerie | Black & White European Outsider Art
2017 Wuhan Disabled Persons’ Art Center, China
2016 Onca Gallery Brighton (UK) -
Publicaties
Solo catalogus Euward9, 2024
Het gewone is bijzonder, Outsider Art Galerie, 2020
Nieuwe Meesters, catalogus bij de tentoonstelling, Outsider Art Museum, 2017
Outsider Art Now, volume #1, Outsider Art Museum, 2017
China Catalogus Outsider Art Museum, 2016 -
Collecties
Outsider Art Museum, Amsterdam
Privé collecties
