Key Sentence:
- We spoke to the rising art-world star about her upcoming exhibition “Singular Duality: I Can Make Us” and her continuing vocation as an artist.
Gilles Deleuze once said: “Shadows come out of bodies like the beasts we have protected. In his latest series of portraits, artist Amoaco Boafo’s Stylish is often accompanied by these ubiquitous but elusive friends. As opposed to the plain ocher plains, Yves Klein blues, and bright pink roses that occupy his canvases.
The shadows Amoaco Boafo’s Stylish create a depth of field and a sense of interaction between boldly dressed figures and their seedy counterparts. Amoaco Boafo’s Stylish introduces this feature in his work to reveal hidden or denied aspects of caregivers that must be claimed to achieve selfishness. The Ghanaian-born artist told: “It’s important to note that you have to know. Accept yourself completely, not pretend that you only have one side.”
With the opening of the new exhibition “Singular Duality. I Can Make We” at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles, Boafo is truly renowned in the art world for his distinctive and bold paintings. His work can, of course, be found under names such as Lynette Yaadom-Boaki, Henry Taylor, and Kehinde Wiley. And he is good at thinking about thematic ideas he wants to explore in his work.
“Presenting, Documenting and Celebrating Blackness.”
Intrigued by people whose stories aren’t often idiosyncratic. Who raise awareness, or who are downright stylish, Boafo’s work is directly inspired by characters from his black community in a broader sense. “These are the people I celebrate with my portraits,” he explains. “They make me as I do.” In the following, we talk with Amoaco Boafo about color semiotics. Tactile color production, and exciting artists from Africa.
Can you tell us more about the portrait from Singular Duality: I Can Make Us?
Amoco Boafo: The portrait that appears in “Singular Duality” shows a man. And a woman both inside and outside my intimate circle; They are inspired by friends, family, strong black artists, but especially by my community in a broader sense. These are the people I celebrate with my portraits; they make me as I do.
How do you choose whose portrait to paint?
Amoco Boafo: I document and celebrate people from my community who usually don’t have the opportunity to be described or whose voices are heard everywhere. Also, people who make room for others to be together because people like that move the world and inspire me. And then there are times when I’m drawn to a person’s sense of fashion, style, confidence, and poise to describe them or describe that type of confidence.