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"I take inspiration from many painters, mostly those who use simple imagery in a momentous way, referring to light and tone at the forefront of their practice."
—Amoako BoafoLegs open, arms crossed, the subject of Amoako Boafo’s Pink Shorts, 2019, gazes languidly from a plane of pinks. The flat, monochrome surfaces that comprise his shirt, shorts, and the background of the work contrast with the textural paint that makes up his figure. Boafo’s brushwork and the intensity of his portraits such as this one—along with a shared history of habitation in Vienna—draw comparisons between his work and that of Austrian painter Egon Schiele’s. However, Boafo focuses exclusively on painting members of the African and African diaspora community, noting that he prefers to paint people with a connection to himself. “It so happens the people, like myself, from these communities are not recognized and are looked down on. These are the people with beautiful stories of their struggles to share, and hence they are the people I mostly paint.”i
Egon Schiele, Self-Portrait with Raised Bare Shoulder, 1912, Leopold Museum, Vienna. Image: HIP / Art Resource, NY Born and raised in Accra, Ghana, where he studied at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design, in 2014 Boafo moved to Vienna to pursue an MFA at the Academy of Fine Arts. While there, he faced frequent rejection from galleries refusing to show African painters and subsequently sought to create paintings that combatted the stereotypes he was facing as a Black man with limited opportunities abroad. “Maybe I should just show them how I want to be seen,” the artist said in an interview for his debut museum solo exhibition Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks, which took place at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, in the summer of 2022.ii
Pink Shorts is one such portrait that, with minimal rendering, shows a man positioned in the comfort of his own space, as if seated in conversation with a friend. The swirling, unblended strokes that make up his skin are painted with Boafo’s fingers rather than a brush and embrace spontaneity. “The lack of control I have with using my fingers is organic… I love that this seemingly simple motion can generate such an intense energy and create almost sculptural figures,” explains the artist.iii The direct nature of Boafo’s contact with the painting only further encourages the intimacy of this work. Relying on his intuition in determining his use of color, Boafo considers his relationship with color similar to a poet’s with words or a musician’s with sound.iv This is reflected in his seamless integration of patches of blue and gray into his subject’s skin, and the effortless flow of multiple contrasting shades of pink throughout the painting."The primary idea of my practice is representation, documenting, celebrating and showing new ways to approach Blackness."
—Amoako BoafoBoafo is a rising star among a generation of Black painters dedicated to celebrating Blackness in their work. With his vibrant use of color and large-scale figuration, he joins a pantheon of trailblazers such as Kerry James Marshall, Kehinde Wiley, and Amy Sherald. More than just an inspirational force, Wiley has championed Boafo’s works and owns several of his paintings. After finding Boafo on Instagram in 2018, Wiley purchased one of his paintings and brought the Ghanaian artist to the attention of his galleries. In 2019, the same year the present work was painted, he participated in an artist residency at the newly opened Rubell Museum, Miami. His rise has been meteoric, and paintings by Boafo have recently entered the permanent collections of The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, among many other prestigious institutions.i Amoako Boafo, quoted in Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, “Amoako Boafo by Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński,” Bomb Magazine, August 26, 2020, online.
ii Amoako Boafo, quoted at 17:55 in Larry Ossei-Mensah, “In Conversation,” Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, May 25, 2022, online.
iii Amoako Boafo, quoted in Dean Kissick, “Figurative Painter Amoako Boafo on his Stratospheric Rise,” GQ, January 29, 2021, online.
iv Amoako Boafo, quoted in Victoria L. Valentine, “Culture Talk: Amoako Boafo’s First Exhibition at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles Centers Black Subjectivity,” Culture Type, February 15, 2019, online.Provenance
Robert Projects, Los Angeles
Acquired from the above by the present ownerExhibited
San Francisco, Museum of the African Diaspora, Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks, October 20, 2021–February 27, 2022
Literature
Osei Bonsu, Rachel Cargle, Mutombo Da Poet and Aja Monet, Amoako Boafo, Culver City, 2022 (illustrated, forthcoming)
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.
Property from an American Private Collection
30
Pink Shorts
signed, inscribed and dated "AMOAKO M BOAFO 2019 KING" lower right
oil on canvas
80 7/8 x 74 in. (205.4 x 188 cm)
Painted in 2019.
Estimate
$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $403,200
Amanda Lo Iacono
Global Managing Director and Specialist, Head of Evening Sale, New York
+1 212 940 1278
ALoiacono@phillips.com
Carolyn Mayer
Associate Specialist, Associate Head of Evening Sale, New York
+1 212 940 1206
CMayer@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 15 November 2022
1
Ilana Savdie
Marimonda Desplegada
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $176,400
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2
Danica Lundy
Miss Fist Kiss
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $189,000
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3
Lauren Quin
Arrow
Estimate $70,000 - 100,000
Sold for $163,800
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4
Avery Singer
Untitled
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,724,000
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5
Rashid Johnson
Standing Broken Men
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,724,000
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6
Pablo Picasso
Mousquetaire buste
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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7
Julie Mehretu
Tsunemasa (next to Kaija)
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,386,000
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8
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate $35,000,000 - 45,000,000
Sold for $41,640,000
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9
René Magritte
Le météore
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,265,000
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10
Amy Sherald
Pilgrimage of the Chameleon
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,087,000
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11
Loie Hollowell
Lick, Lick in Purple, maroon-yellow
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,361,000
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12
Tom Wesselmann
Mouth #14 (Marilyn)
Estimate $3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for $3,236,500
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13
René Magritte
Le coup de grâce
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,966,000
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14
Anna Weyant
Bum
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $390,600
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15
Mark Bradford
He Barked Just Like a Watchdog
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,870,000
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16
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Circus No. 12 Face 44.30)
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $9,809,000
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17
Marc Chagall
Le Père
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $7,404,500
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18
Marlene Dumas
Snow White in the Wrong Story
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $3,781,000
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19
María Berrío
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $1,603,000
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20
Alex Katz
The Grey Dress
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $2,208,000
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21
Yayoi Kusama
All The Eternal Love
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,966,000
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22
Alexander Calder
Plutôt jaune
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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23
Amy Sherald
Madame Noire
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
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24
Jean-Michel Basquiat
To Repel Ghosts
Estimate $7,000,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for $7,862,500
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25
This lot is no longer available.
26
Yayoi Kusama
Nets Blue
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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27
Lucy Bull
Untitled
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $478,800
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28
Willem de Kooning
Untitled
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,870,000
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29
Milton Avery
Hot Moon
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,208,000
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30
Amoako Boafo
Pink Shorts
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $403,200
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31
Rashid Johnson
Untitled Anxious Collage
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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32
Joan Mitchell
Cobalt
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for $3,418,000
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33
Andy Warhol
Oxidation
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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34
Alexander Calder
Petite croix
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $4,023,000
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35
This lot is no longer available.
36
Willem de Kooning
Event in a Barn
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,055,000
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37
Pablo Picasso
Paysage au pin
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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38
Mickalene Thomas
I Can’t See Me Without You
Estimate $350,000 - 550,000
Sold for $441,000
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39
Balthus
La Sieste
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $1,058,500
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40
Andy Warhol
Nosepicker I: Why Pick on Me (The Broad Gave Me My Face But I Can Pick My Own Nose)
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $491,400
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41
Andy Warhol
Living Room
Estimate $250,000 - 450,000
Sold for $315,000
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42
Robert Motherwell
Open No. 25: In Blue with Variations
Estimate $900,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $2,329,000
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43
Luc Tuymans
Absence
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $453,600
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44
Ernie Barnes
Slam Before the Storm
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $604,800
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45
Carmen Herrera
Noche Verde
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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46
Anne Truitt
Autumn Dryad
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $567,000
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