Amoako Boafo Ghana, b. 1984
Amoako Boafo uses painting to create his enticing characters and honour Black figures’ place into the pictorial tradition of the Portrait. He is regarded as a notable young voice in art of the African Diaspora through his new approaches to the shaping of Black forms, and their dispositions in a larger global context. Boafo’s portraits are enticing in their lucidity. The brushstrokes are thick and gestural, the contours of the body almost soften into abstraction. Accentuated and elevated figures are often isolated on single colour backgrounds, their gaze the focal point, to disrupt observations from canonical viewership. The poses are serene and the skin luminous, his tableaux-vivants place the figures at a higher recognition, both physically in regard to the size and spiritually in terms of their grandeur. Boafo studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (Austria). In 2017, he was awarded with the jury prize, Walter Koschatzky Art Prize.
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In and Out of Time, Curated by Ekow Eshun
Third Floor, Galleria Mall, Accra 16 Sep - 12 Dec 2023Drawing from the Ghanaian concept of Sankofa - to return to the past in order to move forward - the exhibition explores African cultural notions of non-linear time and brings...Read more -
Unlimited
Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast, Ghana 10 Nov 2022 - 18 Jan 2023Gallery 1957 is pleased to present UNLIMITED , the first of its kind group exhibition of monumental, large-scale works of art in a 1,400-square-metre unfinished industrial space that has never...Read more -
Homecoming: The Aesthetic of the Cool
Accra, Gallery II 26 Mar - 9 May 2021In celebration of its 5th anniversary, Gallery 1957, proudly presents the contributions of Ghana's compelling voices in contemporary art. Homecoming: The Aesthetic of the Cool, showcases new work of Amoako...Read more
Born in Accra, Ghana, Amoako Boafo studied at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design, Accra, Ghana before attending the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria. Regarded as a notable young voice in art of the African diaspora, Amoako Boafo has emphasised new approaches to the “representation, documentation, and celebration of Blackness.”
Boafo was awarded with the jury prize, Walter Koschatzky Art Prize in 2017 and the STRABAG Artaward International in 2019 both in Vienna, Austria. In 2019, he participated in a residency with the new Rubell Museum in Miami, Florida and in 2020 collaborated with Dior for their Spring/Summer 2021 Men’s Collection. Important solo shows include I Stand By Me, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Chicago (2020), I See Me, Roberts Projects, LA (2019), Amoako Boafo: Artist in Residence, Rubell Museum, Miami (2019), Re-Masculinity, Brazil House, Accra (2018) and Step Into The Darkness Kunsthalle Vienna (2017). Boafo has been presented in group shows including Xenia: Crossroads in Portrait Painting, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York (2020) and OPEN STORAGE, The Bass Museum, Miami (2020).
Widely collected by private and public collectors and institutions, most recently by the Leopold Museum (Vienna, Austria), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New-York, NY), Marieluise Hessel Collection Hessel Museum of Art (Annandale-On-Hudson, NY), Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (Annandale-On-Hudson, NY), The Albertina Museum Vienna (Austria), and the Rubell Museum (Miami, FL). His work has been exhibited in Europe and in the United-States in institutions such as the Volkskunde Museum (Vienna, Austria), Kunsthalle Vienna (Vienna, Austria), Mumok (Vienna Austria), The Bass Museum (Miami, FL) among others.
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Amoako Boafo - the Ghanaian artist who has exhibited in space
BBC, 12 Nov 2023 -
New York, London, Paris, Accra: inside the cultural week bringing the art world to Ghana
Stephen Smith, The Art Newspaper, 22 Sep 2023 -
10 Standout Booths at Frieze Seoul, Where Well-Known Western Artists Korean Up-and-Comers Rub Shoulders
Jaeyong park, Art News, 6 Sep 2023 -
‘This Is a Moment They Have to Grab’: How Ghana’s Art Stars Are Building a Movement to Outlast the Speculators and Marke
Artnet, 12 Apr 2023 -
Newly Published, From Hip Hop Style to Psychic Weapons
The New York Times, 9 Feb 2023 -
Amoako Boafo's top selling paintings at auction are dominated by the color yellow
Victoria Valentine, Culture Type, 28 Mar 2022 -
Kehinde Wiley “Self-Addressed,” An Exhibition of Contemporary African Artists
Miss Rosen, GOAT -
Larry Ossei-Mensah and Amoako Boafo Curate ‘Winner Takes All’ Exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery
Kristen Tauer, WWD, 19 Jan 2022 -
“Self-Address” Jeffrey Deitch / Los Angeles
Flash Art, 24 Nov 2021 -
AMOAKO BOAFO | AN INCANTATION
IKECHÚKWÚ ONYEWUENYI, Flaunt, 13 Oct 2021 -
Amoako Boafo Celebrates Black Identity
RAND AL-HADETHI, GQ Middle East, 21 Sep 2021 -
Beyond Amoako Boafo: The Next Emerging Names You Need to Know in Accra, Ghana’s Rapidly Accelerating Art Hub
Rebecca Anne Proctor, ArtNews, 20 Sep 2021 -
Monopol Magazine Feature
Monopol, 5 Sep 2021 -
Three Amoako Boafo Paintings Were Just Launched Into Space Aboard Jeff Bezos’s Rocket Ship
Sarah Cascone, ArtNet, 27 Aug 2021 -
AMOAKO BOAFO’S ART IS LAUNCHING INTO SPACE
Shelton Boyd-Griffith, Grazia Magazine, 15 Aug 2021 -
Power 100 Most influential people in 2021 in the contemporary artworld
Art Review, 9 Aug 2021 -
Artists on Artists to Watch, and Maybe Even Collect
Noor Brara, New York Times, 14 Jun 2021 -
COOL INTENTIONS: Ayodeji Rotinwa at “Homecoming: Aesthetic of the Cool” at 1957 Gallery
Ayodeji Rotinwa , Artforum, 14 Apr 2021 -
Gallery 1957 Heralds a New Era for West African Artists on Their Own Terms
Charlotte Jansen, Artsy, 15 Dec 2020 -
The Swift, Cruel, Incredible Rise of Amoako Boafo: How Feverish Selling and Infighting Built the Buzziest Artist of 2020
Nate Freeman, ArtNet, 28 Sep 2020
