There’s a bodily high quality to Amoako Boafo’s work that distinguishes them instantly inside up to date portraiture. His figures maintain a composure that recollects the lengthy historical past of painted portraiture, although the surfaces that describe them stay unmistakably up to date. Pores and skin just isn’t brushed into being by cautious layering of paint; as an alternative, Boafo works instantly together with his fingers, urgent pigment onto canvas together with his fingers in order that gesture and make contact with stay seen throughout the floor.
That call emerged by experimentation early in his observe, although it has since change into central to the best way his portraits articulate presence and individuality. The approach permits the physique of the artist to stay seen throughout the work, making a direct correspondence between the act of portray and the depiction of the sitter. Boafo displays on the strategy with readability: “Once I began portray with my fingers, I realized to belief myself and my course of extra and realized to like and admire my work otherwise.” The intimacy of that course of continues to form the works’ ambiance immediately.
The immediacy of contact offers Boafo’s portraits their distinct materials character, although it additionally produces one thing extra conceptual. Every portray seems conscious of its personal provisional nature, as if the picture would possibly nonetheless evolve within the presence of the artist. ‘I developed a extra intimate connection to my work,’ he explains. ‘My work that encompass me appear like I may at all times enhance them, change or alter them. It’s a mirrored image of my life, there’s at all times room for enchancment.’ Fairly than presenting id as mounted, the work register id as one thing in movement, conscious of expertise and time.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Tasks)
“My work that encompass me appear like I may at all times enhance them, change or alter them. It’s a mirrored image of my life, there’s at all times room for enchancment.”
Boafo’s observe has continued to broaden past the canvas, significantly within the spatial environments which have framed his current exhibitions. His present exhibition in Los Angeles, introduced at Roberts Tasks in collaboration with architect and designer Glenn DeRoche of DeRoche Tasks, extends this curiosity by an set up that reconstructs the bodily structure of his studio in Accra. The exhibition locations a gaggle of latest work inside this recreated setting, inviting viewers to expertise the work throughout the spatial situations that form its manufacturing.
The choice to reconstruct the studio in Los Angeles just isn’t a theatrical gesture. It displays Boafo’s broader curiosity in collapsing the perceived distance between the place artwork is made and the place it’s exhibited. The exhibition, subsequently, capabilities as each presentation and translation, bringing the ambiance of Accra into dialogue with the worldwide gallery context. The strategy builds on concepts developed in his London exhibition at Gagosian final yr, the place architectural intervention equally framed the work and foregrounded the social and spatial context through which they had been produced.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Tasks)
‘By constantly strengthening my group by constructing areas, networks and careers, I imagine that many extra will take the initiative to both construct upon what I’ve began or create their very own.’
Though Boafo’s profile has expanded internationally lately, the artist has remained based mostly in Ghana, a call that continues to tell each the psychology and the visible language of his work. His connection to position is neither symbolic nor strategic; as an alternative, it operates as a day by day framework by which relationships, group, and commentary are sustained. ‘I used to be born and raised in Ghana, so it’s solely pure that I moved again to my base,’ he says. ‘Residing and dealing right here jogs my memory of the place I come from, how frequently impressed I’m by my individuals, and the way invested I’m in constructing my group. That is mirrored in what and the way I paint.’
That sense of duty to position has additionally formed Boafo’s rising involvement in initiatives that assist rising artists. Later this yr, he’ll act because the inaugural mentor for the Maison Perrier Artwork Prize, a world competitors designed to assist new creative voices by monetary assist, mentorship and a residency programme based mostly in Accra. The prize features a €40,000 award, a six-week residency and the chance for the chosen artist to collaborate on a limited-edition packaging undertaking.
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Boafo describes his resolution to take part within the initiative in sensible phrases, framing mentorship as an extension of the work he has already been enterprise inside Ghana’s creative group. ‘I take pleasure in being the primary one to do issues; that was persuasive sufficient,’ he says. The reasoning additionally extends past the symbolic worth of the position. ‘It’s vital to put money into artists with cash but additionally with time and sources. Working with Maison Perrier in that capability is a continuation of what I’ve been lucky to do over the previous few years.’
Central to the programme is the choice to find the residency in Accra, a transfer that displays Boafo’s ongoing efforts to place the town as an energetic website of worldwide creative change relatively than solely a supply of rising expertise. Via initiatives akin to dot.ateliers, the residency programme he based in Ghana, Boafo has already begun growing constructions that enable artists, curators and patrons to work instantly throughout the native inventive ecosystem.
‘I feel it’s vital to put money into artists with cash but additionally with time and sources. Working with Maison Perrier in that capability is a continuation of what I’ve been lucky to do over the previous few years.’
For the artist, the intention is evident. ‘I need Ghana to be a part of the dialog in the case of locations of influences within the artwork world,’ he explains. The ambition extends past recognition of expertise. ‘Ghana is a supply of expertise and, extra importantly, a trusted supply for such exchanges and collaborations.’ On this context, the Maison Perrier residency turns into one other step inside a broader effort to develop the nation as a significant level of connection throughout the international artwork panorama.
Boafo typically speaks about legacy in phrases that prioritise continuity over particular person recognition. For him, the affect of a observe is measured by the networks, alternatives and establishments it leaves behind. ‘No matter is completed deliberately serves the work of legacy,’ he says. ‘By constantly strengthening my group by constructing areas, networks and careers, I imagine that many extra will take the initiative to both construct upon what I’ve began or create their very own.’
(Picture credit score: Alejandro-Zaras)
That perspective locations his work inside a bigger framework that strikes past portraiture alone. The work stay probably the most seen expression of his observe, although they exist inside a broader system of cultural funding that features structure, mentorship and institutional growth. Boafo’s figures proceed to command consideration by their presence and composure, but the broader undertaking more and more centres on how that presence can translate into long-term assist for creative communities.
Purposes for the 2026 Maison Perrier Artwork Prize shut on 31 March 2026. Rising artists can apply by the Maison Perrier web site.
Supply: Wallpaper
