He's Not Even 2, Holds a World Record

Ghana toddler Ace-Liam Ankrah is now the world's youngest male artist, per Guinness
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 31, 2024 12:11 PM CDT
He's Not Even 2, Holds a World Record
Ace-Liam Ankrah, who will turn 2 in July, is seen at his mother's art gallery in Accra, Ghana, on Monday. Ace-Liam has set the record as the world's youngest male artist.   (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Meet Ace-Liam Ankrah, a Ghana toddler who has set the record as the world's youngest male artist. His mother, Chantelle Kukua Eghan, says it started by accident when her son, who at the time was 6 months old, discovered her acrylic paints. Eghan, an artist and founder of Arts and Cocktail Studio, a bar that that offers painting lessons in Ghana's capital, Accra, said she was looking for a way to keep her boy busy while working on her own paintings, per the AP. "I spread out a canvas on the floor and added paint to it, and then in the process of crawling he ended up spreading all the colors on the canvas," she said. And that's how his first artwork, "The Crawl," was born, says Eghan, 25. With his mother's prodding, Ace-Liam kept painting.

Eghan decided to apply for the record last June. In November, Guinness World Records told her that to break a previous record, her son needed to exhibit and sell paintings. She arranged for Ace-Liam's first exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology in Accra in January, where nine out of 10 of his pieces listed were sold; she declined to say for how much. Then, Guinness World Records confirmed the record in a statement and last week declared that "at the age of 1 year 152 days, little Ace-Liam Nana Sam Ankrah from Ghana is the world's youngest male artist."

The overall record for the world's youngest artist is currently held by India's Arushi Bhatnagar. She had her first exhibition at the age of 11 months and sold her first painting for about $60 in 2003. These days, Ace-Liam, who'll turn 2 in July, still loves painting and eagerly accompanies his mom to her studio, where a corner has been set off for him. He sometimes paints in just five-minute sessions, returning to the same canvas over days or weeks, Eghan says. She says she won't sell "The Crawl," but instead plans on keeping it in the family. She added that she hopes the media attention around her boy could encourage and inspire other parents to discover and nurture their children's talents. "He is painting and growing and playing in the whole process," she says.

(More Ghana stories.)

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