Gagosian announces Amoako Boafo: what could possibly go wrong, if we tell it like it is, the artist’s first exhibition with the gallery. Opening on March 16 in NY, the solo exhibition of new paintings will also be Boafo’s first in New York. A selection of the exhibited works will travel to Accra, Ghana, and be presented at dot.ateliers in May 2023.

Boafo’s large-scale portraits portray his friends and those he admires with candor, joy, and individuality. Focused on Black identity, his monumental paintings have already become key works in the representation of contemporary Africa and the African diaspora.

When I’m making paintings, I want the characters to be strong, I want them to be free, I want them to be independent, I want them to be unapologetic.—Amoako Boafo

Boafo paints the faces and bodies of his subjects with his fingertips rather than a brush, the directness of his touch enhancing their expressive qualities. The works’ surfaces feature a gestural facture which the artist uses to model the figures’ anatomy.

Making eye contact, Boafo’s subjects return the gaze of the viewer in an assertion of presence and identity, reflecting the artist’s interest in conveying charisma and individuality. The characters occupy domestic interiors, their casual grace reinforced by the familiarity of these settings.