{"title":"Amoako Boafo","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAmoako Boafo (b.1984 Accra, Ghana; based in Vienna, Austria and Accra, Ghana) has built a practice synthesizing the ways that art both reflects and perpetuates the power of representation. Exclusively portraying individuals from the Diaspora and beyond, Boafo invites a reflection on Black subjectivity, diversity and complexity. His portraits are notable for their bold colors and patterns, which celebrate his subjects, as a means to challenge representation that objectifies and dehumanizes Blackness.Able to capture critical subtleties and nuanced emotion in a manner that grabs and engages the viewer, it is however Boafo’s tenderness in how he renders his subjects that is the most striking quality of his work. His powerful, concise style expresses the vibrancy of daily life with an easy familiarity, touching on topics such as community, social and political struggles, and the intimacy between like-minded friends.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe artist counts a diverse range of references as his influences, including Egon Schiele, Kerry James Marshall, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Henry Taylor, and Kehinde Wiley. As Boafo has put it, “the primary idea of my practice is representation, documenting, celebrating and showing new ways to approach Blackness.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBoafo studied at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra, Ghana in 2007, before attending the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria for his MFA. Boafo was awarded with the jury prize, Walter Koschatzky Art Prize in 2017 and the STRABAG Art award International in 2019 both in Vienna, Austria. His first solo exhibition in the United States, entitled\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eI See Me\u003c\/em\u003e, opened at Roberts Projects in January 2019. Boafo was the first artist-in-residence at the new Rubell Museum in Miami, FL, which launched in 2019, organized through Roberts Projects. In 2020, the artist collaborated with Kim Jones, Dior Men’s creative director, for Dior’s Spring\/Summer 2021 Men’s Collection. In 2021, Boafo was selected by the Uplift Art Program to create the inaugural “Suborbital Triptych” on the exterior panels of a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket, to launch August 2021.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBoafo’s latest efforts see the building of artist residency and permanent collection in Accra, the first of its kind in his hometown. Born and raised in Osu, Accra, Ghana, Amoako Boafo studied at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra in 2007, before attending the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria for his MFA. Boafo was awarded with the jury prize, Walter Koschatzky Art Prize in 2017 and the STRABAG Artaward International in 2019 both in Vienna, Austria. His first solo exhibition in the United States, entitled I See Me, opened at Roberts Projects, Los Angeles in January 2019. Boafo was the first artist-in-residence at the newly instituted Rubell Museum in Miami, FL in 2019, organized through Roberts Projects. In 2021, Boafo was selected by the Uplift Art Program to create the inaugural “Suborbital Triptych” on the exterior panels of a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket, which launched the same year. Extensively collected by prestigious private and public institutions, Amoako Boafo’s paintings have recently joined the collection of The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MA; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; The Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN; The Rubell Museum, Miami, FL; the Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL, Aishti Foundation, Antelias, Lebanon; the Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; and The Albertina Museum Vienna, Austria, among others.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"amoako-boafo","title":"Amoako Boafo","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eForeword by Camille Weiner. Text by Osei Bonsu, Rachel Cargle, Mutombo Da Poet, Aja Monet. Interview by Paul Schimmel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first monograph on the sinuous, exhilaratingly colorful and pattern-filled portraiture of Amoako Boafo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGhanaian painter Amoako Boafo has built a practice synthesizing the ways that art both reflects and perpetuates the power of representation. Amoako Boafo is the first monograph to comprehensively examine the artist's career to date. Heavily illustrated and featuring original contributions by Osei Bonsu, Rachel Cargle, Mutombo Da Poet and Aja Monet, the book also presents an insightful and expansive conversation with the artist by Paul Schimmel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExclusively portraying individuals from the diaspora and beyond, Boafo invites a reflection on Black subjectivity, diversity and complexity. His portraits, notable for their bold colors and patterns, celebrate his subjects as a means to challenge portrayals that objectify and dehumanize Blackness. As Boafo has stated, “the primary idea of my practice is representation, documenting, celebrating and showing new ways to approach Blackness.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmoako Boafo (born 1984) studied at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra, Ghana, in 2007, before attending the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, for his MFA. His first solo exhibition in the US, entitled I See Me, opened at Roberts Projects in 2019. That same year, Boafo was the first artist-in-residence at the new Rubell Museum in Miami, Florida. In 2020, he collaborated with Kim Jones, Dior Men’s creative director, for Dior’s Spring\/Summer 2021 Men’s Collection. In 2021, Boafo was selected by the Uplift Art Program to create the inaugural “Suborbital Triptych” on the exterior panels of a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket, launched August 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished by Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California, 2022\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Hardcover, 8.75 x 13 inches \/ 204 pages \/ 140 color images \/ 10 b\u0026amp;w images\u003cbr\u003eEnglish\u003cbr\u003eDistributed throughout the world by Artbook | D.A.P.\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-1-9579209-9-3\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Roberts Projects","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40164633575512,"sku":"","price":100.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0095\/1897\/3028\/files\/2022_Boafo_AmoakoBoafoCatalogue_Cover_CourtesyoftheartistandRobertsProjects_LosAngeles_California_PaulSalveson-sm.jpg?v=1712959265"},{"product_id":"amoako-boafo-soul-of-black-folks","title":"Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEdited by Larry Ossei-Mensah.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA collection of breathtaking portraits by notable Ghanaian painter and visual artist Amoako Boafo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished to accompany Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo’s premier museum solo exhibition, copresented by the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks is a timely exploration into the varying strategies that Boafo employs within his practice to capture the essence of the Black figure. Boafo creates paintings that center Black subjectivity, Black joy, and the Black gaze. Anchored by calculated brushwork combined with skillfully executed finger-painted strokes, his mark-making generates a rich visual dichotomy that yields both inward and outward-looking explorations of Boafo's subjects and the act of painting Black figures themselves.\u003cbr\u003e     \u003cbr\u003eAs much as Boafo's works are about the viewer, these beautifully constructed paintings are buoys. They aid him and many people of color in their continuing journeys toward asserting their presence and place in spaces that attempt to make them feel othered. Boafo's ability to capture the spirit of the individuals in his works and engage viewers has made him one of the most influential artistic voices of his generation. The work's power lies in its communication of a shared experience beyond the Black diaspora and anyone that feels they are on the margins of society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLarry Ossei-Mensah is a Ghanaian American curator and cultural critic who has organized exhibitions internationally with organizations and institutions like Twitter, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and many others. A native of the Bronx, Ossei-Mensah is also the cofounder of ARTNOIR, a nonprofit that highlights the work of creatives of color and creates cultural equity in the arts. The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), a Smithsonian affiliate, is a contemporary art museum that celebrates Black cultures, ignites challenging conversations, and inspires learning through the global lens of the African Diaspora. MoAD is uniquely positioned as one of the few museums in the world focused exclusively on African Diaspora culture and on presenting the rich cultural heritage of the people of Africa and of African descendant cultures all across the globe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished by Cameron Books\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Hardcover, 10 x 11 inches \/ 112 pages\u003cbr\u003eEnglish\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eISBN: 9781951836993\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cameron Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40234226057304,"sku":"","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0095\/1897\/3028\/files\/Amoako_SoulofBlackFolks.jpg?v=1713050685"},{"product_id":"amoako-boafo-proper-love","title":"Amoako Boafo: Proper Love","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdited by Stella Rollig, Sergey Harutoonian. Text by Sergey Harutoonian, Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Ekow Eshun, Amoako Boafo, Taiye Selasi.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis volume accompanies the first museum exhibition in Europe for the Ghanian painter Amoako Boafo (born 1984), who is widely considered to be one of the most important voices from a new generation of Black artists. After graduating from art college in Accra, Boafo began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 2013, where he developed his signature style characterized by his unusual finger-painting technique. Applied to the human body, this creates a sculptural effect that contrasts with the flatness of the rest of the painting. The people portrayed by Boafo—friends, acquaintances and public figures—embody the idea of Black identity that draws on its own culture, to be understood as an act of resistance against the racist labels of a predominantly white society. This form of Black subjectivity is expressed in the appearance of the sitters, who confront the viewer as self-confident individuals and often seek direct eye contact. The artist’s intensive engagement with Black history is subtly reflected in his paintings that include motifs inspired by literary works by key pioneers of the Black Freedom Movement.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished by Walther Konig Verlag, 2025\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Hardcover \/ 160 pages\u003cbr\u003eEnglish\u003cbr\u003eDistributed throughout the world by Artbook | D.A.P.\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-3753307220\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Walther König","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42437225414744,"sku":null,"price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0095\/1897\/3028\/files\/Amoako_ProperLove.jpg?v=1733265720"},{"product_id":"amoako-boafo-play-cards","title":"Amoako Boafo Playing Cards","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis curated box set features two 54-card decks showcasing featuring details of Amoako Boafo’s paintings from 2017 through 2026. The collection honors the Black figure through a lens of authenticity, confidence, and joy. The set is available in three unique box designs, highlighting works\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eOrange Shirt\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(2020),\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eGregory\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(2019), and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTeju\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(2016). As a special addition, the set includes rules for \"Conkin\"—the studio’s favorite card game, introduced to the artist by Nour Shantout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDesigned by Naïla Opiangah for Amoako Boafo Studio.\u003cbr\u003ePurchases are limited to three decks per customer.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Roberts Projects","offers":[{"title":"Box Design: Orange Shirt","offer_id":43868446785624,"sku":null,"price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Box Design: Gregory","offer_id":43868446818392,"sku":null,"price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Box Design: Teju","offer_id":43868446851160,"sku":null,"price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0095\/1897\/3028\/files\/3boxesontop.jpg?v=1773438756"}],"url":"https:\/\/roberts-projects.myshopify.com\/collections\/frontpage.oembed","provider":"Roberts Projects","version":"1.0","type":"link"}