C&: In general terms Germany has a long and established painting tradition, whereas the US has been much more open towards new mediums. How does your painting practice fit into the US painting tradition?
DKS: Well, one can describe my work as retro-futuristic from an Afrofuturist perspective with regards to the topics I engage with, but I don’t think I am seen here as a retro or traditionalist painter. Aside from the fact that my painting techniques are quite complex, such perceptions are also always about the context one places one’s work into.
C&: Who are the Afrofuture icons of tomorrow?
DKS: I would say Bernard Akoi Jackson, Miatta Kawinzi, Sondra Perry, and Thomas Sankara.
This text was commissioned within the framework of the project “Show me your Shelves,” which is funded by and part of the yearlong campaign “Wunderbar Together (“Deutschlandjahr USA”/The Year ofGerman-American Friendship) run by the German Foreign Office.
Daniel Kojo Schrade, professor of art, studied in Germany and Spain. He received an M.F.A. from the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Germany.