Artworks Sold, Artists Unpaid: Victims of Joseph Awuah- Darko cry out over $360K debt

Emerging undercover reports show that Joseph Awuah-Darko has built reputation and an empire in the art world from the sweat and tears of vulnerable Ghanaian artists.
Exclusive findings by Afrikmag’s Gallery of Greed investigative report, discovers that Joseph Awuah Darko has painted lies to exploit some artists through The Noldor Residency, an art foundation that he operates as the Director.
The self-styled Ghanaian artist first came under fire, a few months ago, when one artist, Foster Sakyiamah, sued him for withholding funds from the sale of his works. The Noldor Residency, sold artworks by Foster and was responsible for paying $266,527.03, a figure confirmed in an account statement The Noldor Residency provided to Foster on 8 April 2022. However, the agency, owned by Joseph Awuah-Darko, never remitted the funds.
Speaking to Afrikmag, Foster who describes his relationship with Joseph as patron to predator, said “When we make sales, all the sales, they send me a financial report. With the financial report, it will be stated that all the galleries. or the client that has been buying the works have paid in full. That means if they paid in full, you’ve taken your percentage 40%. And my percentage is supposed to be sent to my account. It was not like that. The money was piling up, but I didn’t realise it because with those small amounts I was given, I was okay.”

“So my brother noticed that, no, Joseph is owing us a lot. So I said, no, if Joseph owes a lot, he should pay all the money before we continue the work, or we will not continue the work. Still, other clients have been demanding some of the work, and all of them have paid for the work fully. And you are sitting on the money,” Foster added and revealed how he has been confronting Joseph for his money yet all proved futile with myriad of excuses from him.

Seth Fiifi, an artist who is a brother to Foster, added his voice, saying “So he gave us a payment plan. He didn’t follow. We contacted him again and he gave us another time. That was when the failed promises started. Today that tomorrow that today that, it got to a point we said if he doesn’t pay the money, we will send it to court. Initially he was like no, we shouldn’t. That will destroy everything so we shouldn’t take it court, he will find a way and resolve it.”

Private legal practitioner Joachim Baazeng of Kwame Boafo and Associates, who is the lawyer for Foster, points to accusations of unjust enrichment and breaches of contractual obligations.

Explaining the dispute, he said it centres on a dealer agreement signed on 9 August 2021 between Foster and JAD Advisory Limited, with Awuah-Darko acting as the company’s representative. Under the contract, JAD Advisory was appointed to promote, exhibit, and sell Foster’s artworks, with profits shared on a 40:60 basis after deducting reasonable expenses and commissions.
According to Baazeng, JAD Advisory Limited, through its agency called The Noldor Residency, sold artworks by Foster and was responsible for paying $266,527.03 « These are sales that have been made, payments received, and yet the artist has not received what is due to him, » said Baazeng.
The lawyer also highlighted another layer to the controversy: revealing that there are artworks taken and sold personally by Awuah-Darko outside the dealership arrangement. These transactions, unaccounted for to date, form part of the reliefs sought in court, with the legal team demanding a full accounting of these sales.
« JAD Advisory, at least, provided an account of their sales, even if they failed to remit the funds. Joseph, on the other hand, has not accounted for the works he took personally. This raises questions about transparency and fairness, » Baazeng noted.

Brushes, Betrayals, and Broken Promises: The Dark Truth About Joseph Awuah-Darko, Second Victim’s account.

The Noldor Residency with Joseph Awuah-Darko as its director has broken promises and broken lives as investigations have discovered that, another artist, Ishmeal Armah, has been caught up in the same situation of unpaid settlements for his works.
Ishmeal is also a contemporary artist and has been painting for over 20 years now. Afrikmag’s Gallery of Greed investigative report has discovered that Joseph owes him more than $60,000. Ishmeal also missed attending his biggest solo exhibition show in Amsterdam over unclear reasons, however, Joseph was present to exhibit his works.

Asked why he missed attending the show as his contract with The Noldor Residency suggested, he said “Yeah, it’s complicated. The contract was you get exhibitions, you the artist must be there yourself. But the director between the Noldor and the artist, Joseph, chooses to go by himself but not the artist. We didn’t know the reason why but it was stated in the contract. Later on we heard that oh, when you go as an artist you may get contacts and maybe a different gallery can choose to work with you. Then you will ignore Noldor so he decided to go by himself. Meanwhile the contract says the artist must represent at the exhibition not the director.”
Ishmeal is an expecting father, he laments that he accordingly needs money to be a responsible father, hence, that has been compelling him to reach out to Joseph to pay him the amount due him. It is almost a year now but he has still not receive any funds from Joseph apart from excuses including one about rental issues in the UK where he is domiciled now. In another claim from a call intercepted by Afrikmag, Joseph rather warns that he could file for bankruptcy on behalf of Noldor Residency and Ishmeal might end up getting nothing, therefore, he should only remain patient.

Detailing his encounter over attempts to get his money, he said “Joseph left and handed over his Director role to his assistant Johannes. But we have no contract with Johannes. It was Joseph. According to Ato Kwamena (a known investor of the Residency), he said he has given all the money to Joseph already. So The Noldor Residency doesn’t owe us any money. But they will try their possible best to take the money from Joseph.”
He continued that “but when you ask Joseph too he said oh there is a misunderstanding on his account where he can withdraw money to pay to me. That was excuse that he started giving me. Sometimes too, he will tell me he has done the transfer so it’s the bank delaying. Other times he says the bank has blocked his account because of too much transfers that he has done, a whole lot.”
By and large, Ishmeal says he holds nothing against Joseph and he is confident he will eventually pay him without any legal battle.

Brushstrokes of Betrayal: Joseph Awuah-Darko Accused of Preying on Artists, Third Victim’s account.

Elizabeth Sakyiamah, is a 22-year-old abstract artist, at the age of 19, without the guidance of lawyer, she signed a contract with a new art agency Joseph Awuah-Darko created; The Judith Ellen Foundation, named after the grandmother of the Ghanaian artist, now domiciled in the UK.
Elizabeth, met Joseph through her brother, Foster Sakyiamah, and had hopes of a bright future in the art world, however, her dreams have been shuttered. The young artist has ended up with “25, 656 dollars and 6,330 Euros” locked up in the hands of Joseph.

Sharing her plight, Elizabeth has disclosed that “There are issues with the foundation that was the first thing. At first I was expecting payments, but I wasn’t receiving anything and nobody was telling me anything. Like I didn’t even know who to go to because I was supposed to go to the accountant and ask why am I not receiving any payments? But you ask him and he doesn’t say anything like, yeah. So one other lady who also works in the foundation contacted me and told me, oh yeah, there are issues with the foundation and that’s why the payments are not coming.”
Elizabeth who is now looking forward to further her education into a tertiary institution, says she has no option than to personally reach out to Joseph but all she has had so far is stories.
“I don’t know If they didn’t know what was going on in the foundation because they weren’t giving me like answers, the answers I wanted and most of them have left the foundation. So at that point I didn’t know who to ask. So then why not go to Joseph? He was telling me he would pay and a lot of stories. I remember the recent one of he moving out of his apartment. So he has to find a new apartment. And the one before that, he said he was in the hospital. So that was it,” she said during an interview in the presence of her Legal Advicer, Lawyer Joseph Wellington Blay of Addo, Addo Legal Attorneys.

Elizabeth is grateful for the exposure she has gotten from Joseph’s foundation, noting that “in some way that’s helped because I didn’t see myself pursuing art.” However, asked what she’ll tell Joseph if they should meet right now, she said “Pay me my money”.

The Picasso of Fraud? Joseph Awuah-Darko Accused of Robbing Artists Blind, Fourth Victim’s account.
During the ‘Gallery of Greed’ investigation, Afrikmag learned of an artiste, who spoke on anonymity and would be known as Brush Daddy in this report.
According to him, he immediately ended his contract after some weeks because he discovers The Noldor Residency was operating on an art heist scheme.
He explains that, in the contract, all artists are made to submit 21 artworks as a pledge to the residency. These 21 artworks according to the contract are not supposed to be sold; they are only to be exhibited to market the agency and the artists. However, he discovered from auction websites that the artworks were being sold.
Brush Daddy says this is a red a flag he couldn’t ignore, hence, ended his contract abruptly.
These stories of canvas of deceit are not limited to only Foster, Ishmeal, Elizabeth and Brush Daddy. There are more artists who have ignorantly patronized Joseph Awuah-Darko’s con artistry.

Stoleßn Dreams and Paintings from the Court Room; The Case So Far.

So far, Joseph Awuah-Darko has only been dragged to court by Foster Sakyiamah as efforts to settle the matter amicably have so far been unproductive. Joseph has publicly ignored the suit. However, our investigations show that he has been reaching out privately to other artists to complain about Foster’s suit. In one such conversation, he claimed his family has laughed off the suit.

Meanwhile, Lawyer Joachim reveals the case progressing steadily in the court. “So the action was mounted on 24 June 2024, and well, when we mounted the action, initially there was a counsel who called me and stated that they had received the writ and that they wanted the proposed settlement of the issues in the case. An amicable settlement. The name of the person that called is Douglas Adjei, Esq., of Regent Law Firm,” he said.
According to Foster’s lawyer, “He called to propose settlement of the matter. We told them that initially, they wanted us to settle the matter completely out of the court system. But I insisted that since the writ has already been filed, they’ve been served. If there was any settlement, we have to do it formally in the court system and draft the terms of settlement for adoption as consent judgment by the court.
“He agreed and said that he was going to consult his client and bring out the terms of the settlement, propose the terms of the settlements.

But he never got in touch until recently when I met another lawyer, one Hamza Alhassan, who has been appointed by JAD Advisory Services Limited, and he also brought up the issue of settlement, their desire to have the matter settled, and hopefully we are waiting for whatever terms they have for us, and then we can decide,” Lawyer Joachim revealed.
The company’s defence, filed hastily after missing deadlines, claims that Foster breached the contract and asserts additional costs were incurred, claims the plaintiff’s lawyer dismisses as baseless. « They haven’t detailed how Foster breached the agreement or provided evidence of these alleged costs, » said Baazeng. « This looks like a desperate attempt to justify withholding payments. »
When asked whether Awuah-Darko’s actions constitute fraud, Baazeng stopped short of making such a claim but called the conduct « dishonest and unjust. »
« These funds were clearly due to the artist after all deductions. Refusing to remit them is an act of unjust enrichment. Whether it amounts to fraud will depend on proving intent, but there’s no doubt this behaviour cannot be fair or ethical, » he stated.
The case has now reached the pre-trial settlement conference stage, scheduled for 29 November 2024. If a resolution is not reached, the matter will proceed to full trial. For now, Foster and his legal team remain resolute. « What we want is simple: pay what is owed, » Baazeng emphasised.
Now the question is, will Joseph Awuah-Darko be able to pay and account for all these monies? Afrikmag has reached out to artist on comments about the new revelations in these report but he has not responded.