Amoako 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.

The 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.”

Boafo 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 I See Me, 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.

Extensively collected by prestigious private and public institutions, Boafo’s paintings have recently joined the collection of 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; and The Albertina Museum Vienna, Austria, among others.

EDUCATION

2019

MFA, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria

2007

Ghanatt College of Art and Design, Acra, Ghana

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021

“SINGULAR DUALITY: ME CAN MAKE WE” Roberts Projects, Culver City, CA; catalogue “Soul of Black Folks” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA

2020

"AMOAKO BOAFO: THE GAZE, AN EXCHANGE” The Miettinen Collection, Salon Dahlmann, Berlin, Germany

“I STAND BY ME” Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Chicago, IL 2019 “I SEE ME” Roberts Projects, Culver City, CA; catalogue

“Amoako Boafo: 2019 Artist-in-Residence” Rubell Museum, Miami, Florida

2018

“Re Masculinity” Brazil House, Accra, Ghana

2017

“Illuminated” House of Bandits, Vienna, Austria “Pillow Talks” Casino-Baumgarten, Vienna, Austria

“Detoxing Masculinity” We Dey X Space, Vienna, Austria

“Night School” Volkskunde Museum, Vienna, Austria

2016 “Step Into the Darkness” Kunsthalle Vienna, Austria

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021

“Homecoming: The Aesthetic of the Cool” Gallery 1957, Accra Ghana 2020 “Synchronicity” Roberts Projects, Culver City, CA

“myselves” Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

"About Face" curated by Ali Subotnick. Gallery Platform Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA “XENIA: Crossroads in Portrait Painting” Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY

“Wish You Were Here” Roberts Projects, Culver City, CA

2019

“Two Ages: Young” Crone Side, Berlin, Germany

“As long as we are flying all this world ain't got no end” Luce Gallery, Turin, Italy “Punch” curated by Nina Chanel Abney, Deitch Projects, Los Angeles, CA

“Guerilla of Enlightenment” Rotor Center for Contemporary Art, Graz, Austria

2018

“The Alumni Exhibition Series” Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria

“Tell Me" Red House, Galerie Bodenseekreis, Meersburg, Germany

“Archipelago: Island of Unpredictable Thinking” Wiener Festwochen, Hauptbüchereiam Gürtel, Vienna, Austria

“Your Pressure Is My Pleasure” Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria

2017

“Rethinking Afropolitan: The Ethics of Black Atlantic Masculinities" College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA

“Walter Koschatzky Art Prize” Hofstallung Mumok, Vienna, Austria

“Decolonial Borderlands” Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria

2016

“Step Into the Darkness” Kunstalle Vienna, Vienna, Austria

“Anti Colonial Fantasies” Friday Exit, Vienna, Austria

“We Dey Show” WUK Project Room, Vienna, Austria

2015

“Familiarities-Unexpected Queerings” Vbkö, Vienna, Austria

2014

“Group Exhibition” National Museum of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

2013

“Group Exhibition” Stilwerk, Vienna, Austria

“Group Exhibition” Chale Wote Festival, Accra, Ghana

2012

“Group Exhibition” Novotel, Accra, Ghana

AWARDS & HONORS

2020

Spring / Summer 2021 Collaboration with Dior

2019

STRABAG Art award International, Vienna, Austria

Artist-in-Residence, Rubell Museum, Miami, Florida 2017 Walter Koschatzky Art Prize, Vienna, Austria

2014

KültürGemma, Arbeitsstipendium der Stadt, Vienna, Austria

2008

Best Portrait Painter of the Year, Ghanatta College of Art and Design, Accra, Ghana

2007

Best Abstract Painter of the Year, Ghanatta College of Art and Design, Accra, Ghana

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Minneapolis Art Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China

The Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York

Rubell Museum, Miami, Florida

Miettinen Collection, Helsinki, Finland

Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York City of Miami Beach Art Collection, Miami, Florida

Blenheim Art Foundation, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, UK

PUBLICATIONS

“I See Me”, Roberts Projects

“WTF willimsen”, Wimmumsens Museum

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Uplift Aerospace, Suborbital Triptych