"Rooted (II)" Painting

Nana Osei (Victor Osei Mensah, born 1997) is a contemporary Ghanaian artist based in Accra. Primarily self-taught, he works across oil and acrylic on canvas, developing expressive portraits and figurative compositions that investigate identity, ancestry, perception, memory, and emotional experience.
Nana’s artistic development began through independent experimentation with different media before becoming increasingly focused on portraiture and the human figure. His training includes three years of Visual Art studies and a two-year apprenticeship under established artists. During this period, he also began accepting commissions while refining the visual language that continues to shape his practice.
His paintings frequently feature Black figures, ancestral markings, symbolic patterns, bold colour, and highly expressive eyes. These elements operate as visual carriers of cultural memory and personal experience, while the eyes become a recurring motif through which Nana explores inner identity and psychological presence.
His Portrait of Survival series examines resilience, endurance, identity, and the relationship between memory and self.
In Magic in the Mundane, distorted, enlarged figures and unconventional gazes explore the extraordinary within ordinary experiences.
Nana has participated in exhibitions, private art experiences, and collaborative presentations in Ghana, including a solo exhibition in 2023. He continues to live and work in Accra, developing a practice rooted in African cultural memory while engaging with contemporary approaches to portraiture and figurative painting.