NADA New York 2023

Superhouse is honored to present three new sculptures by the preeminent Ghanaian artist Paa Joe at NADA New York May 18 - 21, 2023.

For his installation, the fantasy and figurative coffin artist took inspiration from New York City, a place he had only seen in images. Shown within NADA’s Sculpture Projects, Paa Joe chose a basketball, a giant rat, and a NYC trashcan overflowing with refuse as symbols of the city. Each work is a scaled-down example of the artist’s full-size coffins, known as abeduu adeka, or “proverb boxes,” which illustrate Ghanaian beliefs on life and death.

For its ninth edition, NADA’s New York art fair will showcase a diverse selection from 88 galleries, art spaces, and non-profit organizations spanning 17 countries and 37 cities including Copenhagen, Detroit, Guadalajara, Lima, London, New York, Paris, and Seoul. This year’s exhibitors list showcases 53 NADA Members and 31 first-time exhibitors. The fair will also feature NADA Presents, the organization’s signature programming series of conversations, performances, and events.

Superhouse joined NADA as a member earlier this year.

About Paa Joe

Born Joseph Tetteh-Ashong, Paa Joe is a second-generation fantasy coffin maker, an artistic tradition important around Ghana’s capital Accra. Known as abeduu adeka, or “proverb boxes,” these end-of-life vessels illustrate Ghanaian beliefs on life and death. Working since the mid-1970s, the artist has carved and painted figurative coffins to resemble living and inanimate objects, symbolic to the deceased (a carrot for a farmer, an eagle for a community leader, a fish for a fisherman, etc.). After receiving acclaim from the global art community following an exhibition at Centre Pompidou (Paris, France) in 1989, Paa Joe’s practice has evolved, with smaller-scale sculptural boxes added to his oeuvre as well as new symbols keeping with changing times, such as mobile phone and Air Jordan-shaped coffins. His work is included in numerous institutional collections including The British Museum (London, England), The Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, New York), The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Massachusetts), and more. Paa Joe lives and works in Kpobiman, Greater Accra, Ghana. Learn more.