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AMOAKO BOAFO
I STAND BY ME
10 SEPTEMBER - 24 OCTOBER 2020
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" I’ve explored many technical and figurative expressions of skin tone and movement, realizing my process is best embellished when I paint with my fingers. The hands and faces of the buoyant figures in the works have been finger-painted, with the lack of instrument allowing me to create freely and to achieve an expressive skin tone. I love that this seemingly simple motion can generate such an intense energy and unveil these sculptural figures. The lack of control I have with using my fingers is organic, and that shows through in the abstract forms that create the beautiful faces of my subjects."
- Amoako Boafo
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“When I look at you, do you see me?” Painter Amoako Boafo urges us to consider the complexities of blackness
Excerpt of a text by Ann Binlot for Document Journal, June 3, 2020Amoako Boafo in conversation with Osei Bonsu, Curator of International Art at Tate Modern, London.
Osei: Your paintings engage with this notion of visibility in a sensitive way. They seem to be about an internal struggle to be seen and represented in the world. Did you think your interest in portraiture developed from your experiences as a black man living in Vienna?
Amoako: Why do people always ask that question? I stick to what I want to do. I question what it actually does to viewers when faced with black people. I just stick to what I was doing. I think it has helped the movement because there are so many black people in Vienna that showed the necessity of what I was doing, and they supported it from the beginning. Anytime I ask them to sit in the studio, they make time and come. Anytime I asked them to take pictures, they make time to come, so I can take pictures and paint.
Osei: I’m interested in your time growing up in Ghana, a place where black people are the majority and race is rarely discussed in the same terms as it might be in the West. How do you think the idea of blackness and black culture is different in Vienna, and does it necessarily correspond with notions of race and identity?
Amoako: Well, in Ghana I never had to question myself in terms of blackness. There, I am part of the majority so it was never a question. That’s why it was a bit of a shock to have this constant question of, ‘Why do you only paint black people?’ Because for me, I want to paint people who have had the same experiences as me. I want to see myself and have people see themselves in me.
Osei: We know that art has the potential to change peoples’ attitudes and perceptions. Do you feel like your paintings try to address that?
Amoako: My paintings are for documenting the people around me and where I am, but I also think they challenge the notion of how people think about blackness.
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Amoako Boafo
May 26, 2020
Lifting up the African DiasporaAmoako Boafo has experienced a meteoric rise in the art world over the past year. Known for large-scale portraits of Black subjects rendered in bold, gestural strokes, Boafo has only... -
Amoako Boafo
May 25, 2020
On the CoverAmoako Boafo on the cover of BOMB Issue #152 in advance of his solo exhibition at Mariane Ibrahim. The Summer issue includes interviews with Nicolas Party, Jenny Offill, Brenda Goodman,... -
Amoako Boafo
September 5, 2020
WSJ Magazine'Fresh off the launch of his collection with Dior, painter Amoako Boafo presents his latest portrait series in a solo gallery show. While living in Vienna, Amoako Boafo felt pressured... -
Amoako Boafo
April 29, 2020
On the CoverDocument Spring/Summer 2020, surveys the terrain and maps the course of the world around us, both where we’ve been and where we’re headed, to find we’re at a cultural and...
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