Amoako Boafo - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale in association with Yongle Hong Kong Tuesday, November 29, 2022 | Phillips
  • Ghana-born, Austria-based contemporary painter Amoako Boafo has established himself as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary portraiture. His tactile portraits explore the role of diaspora, race and identity, challenging the viewer to consider preconceived notions throughout the history of Western painting in his celebration of Blackness in all its multitudes. As if weaving notions of identity into each painterly swirl, Boafo’s working methods are both personal and intimate, as he applies paint directly onto his canvas or paper works using his fingers in lieu of a brush.

     

    "The faces and hands of my subjects are formed in wells of paint with my fingers. The lack of control I have with using my fingers is organic and that shows through in the abstract forms that creates the beautiful faces of my subjects. I use painting as an instrument both literally and to navigate the human experience."
    — Amoako Boafo

     

    Executed in 2019, the subject of Marie Humbert 2 wears a royal blue sweater, with large hoop earrings and a ruby red slight smile. The woman in the portrait is Marie Humbert, a painter and sales associate at the notable Gallery 1957 in Accra whom Boafo knows. The present work exhibited at the HOFA Gallery in London in 2022.
     

     

     Detail of the present work

     

    Boafo has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, and will hold exhibitions at the Seattle Art Museum and Denver Art Museum in the coming year. Examples of Boafo’s work are held in the permanent collections of prestigious international institutions including The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Albertina Museum in Vienna, where the artist currently resides.

    • Provenance

      Robert Projects, Los Angeles
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      London, HOFA Gallery, Artcels Presents: Masters, 24 February - 6 March 2022

    • Artist Biography

      Amoako Boafo

      Amoako Boafo’s work questions contemporary misunderstandings of blackness by contrasting personal and structural perceptions and portrayals of black people. His heavily expressionistic and sensitive portraits of friends and acquaintances highlight their self-perception and beauty while challenging the misconceptions of blackness that objectify and dehumanize black people. Often depicting his sitters with animated lucidity against vibrant, monochromatic backgrounds, Boafo asks for understanding of the diversity and complexity of blackness in spite of the frequently negative representations of black people in media and culture. Though born in Accra, Ghana, he now lives and works in Vienna, Austria.

       
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Marie Humbert 2

signed, inscribed and dated 'AMOAKO M BOAFO 2019 KING' lower right
oil on paper
91 x 70 cm. (35 7/8 x 27 1/2 in.)
Painted in 2019, this work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by HOFA Gallery.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$400,000 - 600,000 
€49,800-74,700
$51,300-76,900

Sold for HK$1,260,000

Contact Specialist

Danielle So
Specialist, Head of Day Sale
+852 2318 2027
danielleso@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale in association with Yongle

Hong Kong Auction 30 November 2022