After the success of his solo show at the FIAC when all of his paintings sold at the start of the fair, Amoako Boafo looks set to establish his place on the contemporary art scene with “Black Diaspora”, a series of large format portraits that he began in 2018. In these paintings, he portrays other members of his generation, friends and acquaintances from Vienna, Berlin and Ghana, isolating their silhouette against a shimmering monochrome background which, by a play of contrast, emphasizes their black skin. Using his fingers, he applies diluted oil paints directly onto the canvas, eliminating any decorative elements and focusing attention on his subjects’ faces and poses, which are in turns solemn and serene. In this way, Boafo highlights the penetrating gaze and sheer energy that radiates from the subjects of his portraits and, in so doing, asserts the presence of black people in the history of art: “The primary idea of my practice is representation, documenting, celebrating and showing new ways to approach blackness.”
1984 Born in Accra, Ghana
2007 Degree from the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
2016 Collective exhibition “Step Into the Darkness“ at the Kunsthalle Vienna
2018 Solo exhibition “I See Me“ at Roberts Projects (Los Angeles)
Lives and works in Vienna, Austria
