AMOAKO BOAFO
b. 1984, GhanaAmoako Boafo is a Ghanaian contemporary artist whose vivid, finger-painted portraits centre Black subjectivity, celebrating the diversity, intimacy, and complexity of Black life across Africa and the diaspora.
Known for his empowering fingertip paintings, which have been exhibited globally, Boafo has collaborated with fashion house Dior and launched an artwork into space with Blue Origin and the Uplift Art Program. Boafo has made headlines for the record auction prices his work has reached, including in 2020 when his painting The Lemon Bathing Suit (2019) fetched £675,000 (US $881,550) at auction.
Early Years
Born in Accra, Ghana, in 1984, Amoako Boafo grew up in a culturally vibrant environment that deeply informed his artistic interests. After completing his early studies in Accra, he pursued fine arts at Ghanatta College of Art and Design. In 2014, Boafo relocated to Vienna, Austria, where he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. This cross-continental experience—between West Africa and Europe—profoundly influenced his engagement with representation, diaspora, and identity.Boafo continues to live and work between Accra and Vienna, maintaining close ties with both cultural spheres. His international perspective and unapologetic focus on Blackness have become central to his art practice.
Amoako Boafo Artworks
Amoako Boafo’s artworks are characterised by vibrant, thickly layered portraits of Black figures, created with his fingertips rather than brushes. This distinctive, hands-on technique lends his paintings both immediacy and intimacy.
Finger Painting and Visual Language
Boafo’s artistic hallmark is his use of finger painting—an intimate, tactile method that replaces the traditional brush. This technique emerged during his studies in Vienna, where he sought a more physical and instinctive way of engaging with his materials. Using oil paint, he manipulates skin tones and facial expressions with a sculptural quality, while often contrasting them against flat, pattern-rich backgrounds. This signature approach is evident in early works like Joy in Purple (2019), where expressive hands and faces radiate vitality and confidence.
Diaspora and Identity
Boafo’s paintings foreground the Black diaspora, celebrating the style, elegance, and resilience of his sitters. His subjects—often friends, fellow creatives, or figures from the broader Black community—are portrayed in moments of quiet introspection or confident self-possession. Works such as The Lemon Bathing Suit (2019), which was acquired by the Rubell Museum, demonstrate his gift for blending the personal with the political, elevating everyday Black life as worthy of artistic canonisation.
Global Commissions and Institutional Acclaim
Boafo’s unique style has found resonance beyond the canvas. In 2020, his artworks were featured in a high-profile collaboration with Dior, where his paintings appeared as prints across garments, marking a rare intersection of fine art and fashion. His 2021 project with Blue Origin saw his artwork sent into space aboard a New Shepard rocket—a symbolic gesture of Black excellence crossing terrestrial and societal boundaries.
Public Commissions
- Large-scale mural for Rubell Museum, Miami, commissioned for Rubell Artist-in-Residence, 2019
Awards and Accolades
- STRABAG Artaward International, Vienna (2019)
- Walter Koschatzky Art Prize, Vienna (2017)
Exhibitions
Amoako Boafo has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions at important institutions. A selection of important exhibitions are provided below.
Solo Exhibitions
- Boafo’s debut London solo exhibition at Gagosian, I Do Not Come to You by Chance (Grosvenor Hill, from April 2025), expands his portraiture into immersive installations that echo the textures and colours of his childhood home in Accra.
- Amoako Boafo: Proper Love, Belvedere Museum, Vienna (2024) – presenting more than 50 works and placing selected paintings in dialogue with Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt.
- Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks, Denver Art Museum (2023)
- Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco (2021). Travelled to: Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (2022); Seattle Art Museum (2023)
- Amoako Boafo: Night School, Volkskunde Museum, Vienna (2017)
- Amoako Boafo: Step Into the Darkness, Kunsthalle Vienna (2017)
Group Exhibitions
- Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860-1960. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (2024) and Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing, FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2023). Travelled to: Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL (2024)
- When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa (2023). Travelled to Kunstmuseum Basel (2024)
- Reclaiming Magic, Royal Academy of Art, London (2022)
- OPEN STORAGE. Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (2020)
Market and media attention remain significant, including auction records such as Hands Up at Christie’s Hong Kong and extensive coverage of his rapid rise and collecting base.
In Los Angeles, Amoako Boafo’s relationship with Roberts Projects has been pivotal, with solo exhibitions such as I Bring Home with Me staged as immersive environments that echo the textures and rhythms of his life in Accra. A forthcoming presentation in Los Angeles continues this dialogue, bringing together new portraits that reflect on rest, self-fashioning, and interior life, and aligning with his visibility at Frieze Los Angeles 2025, where his work is a key presence in the fair’s painting-focused presentations.
Amoako Boafo’s Instagram can be found here.
Critical Reception
Amoako Boafo’s art has been widely discussed in leading publications, including Artnet News, Wallpaper, and Time.
Amoako Boafo FAQs
What is unique about Amoako Boafo’s painting technique?
Boafo employs a distinctive finger-painting method to create his portraits, applying oil paint directly onto the canvas with his fingers. This tactile approach allows for expressive, textured depictions of his subjects, particularly emphasising the richness of Black skin tones. The technique imparts a sculptural quality to the figures, contrasting with the often minimalistic backgrounds. Boafo’s method not only showcases his technical prowess but also reinforces the intimacy and immediacy of his subjects, inviting viewers to engage deeply with the individuality and humanity portrayed in his work.
Where can I see Amoako Boafo’s work?
Boafo’s artworks are featured in prominent museums and galleries worldwide. Notable institutions housing his pieces include the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Rubell Museum in Miami. He is represented by esteemed galleries such as Gagosian and Mariane Ibrahim, which regularly showcase his work. Recent exhibitions include II Do Not Come to You by Chance at Gagosian London and Soul of Black Folks at the Denver Art Museum. Upcoming shows and current displays can be found on his official website and the respective galleries’ exhibition schedules.
What inspires Amoako Boafo’s portraits?
Amoako Boafo’s portraits are inspired by friends, acquaintances, and public figures who embody contemporary Black identity, confidence, and self-fashioning. He draws on personal relationships, fashion, photography, and everyday scenes to create images that foreground joy, rest, and individuality rather than trauma.
What is dot.ateliers and why is it important to Amoako Boafo?
dot.ateliers is the residency and studio complex that Amoako Boafo founded in Ogbojo, a suburb of Accra, to support emerging artists and build local infrastructure for contemporary art in Ghana. The project reflects his commitment to reinvesting resources and knowledge back into his home context, nurturing the next generation of artists on the continent
Ocula | 2026
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