AMOAKO BOAFO, COINS AND ART BASEL MIAMI.

By Nii B. Andrews.

Amoako Boafo has taken the seminal art fair in Miami by storm. 

His works priced between 15 – 45K USD have all been bought from the booth of the Mariane Ibrahim Gallery that represents him.

Boafo makes idiosyncratic large portraits on a monochromatic background. They are portraits of his friends in Accra and Vienna. 

He applies the paint with his finger tips instead of a brush or palette knife.

It was the renowned artist, Kehinde Wiley, who saw Boafo’s work on Instagram several years ago and opened doors to the international art market for him.

His first US solo show was in January 2019 at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles. In the recent past it is reported that he has gained a prestigious residency at the Rubell Family Collection. 

Boafo graduated from the Ghanatta College of Art in 2007. He is currently based in Vienna where he is pursuing a masters in Art.

He is also being hailed as the next big name artist to have come out of Ghana since Ibrahim Mahama.

Meanwhile, Julia Halperin reported in artnet that in order for buyers to spend five figures or more on rising stars like Boafo, they had to make promises such as; to donate their work to a museum within just a few years; others agreed to buy something by another artist from the gallery’s stable to sweeten the deal. 

And, of course, they pledged not to resell the work at auction—at least for a number of years. 

Halperin wrote that a “new, profit-hungry plutocracy followed the scent of money into the art market, spawning a breed of buyers referred to as COINs: Collectors Only in Name.”

The market benefits from collectors, not flippers – those looking for a quick buck.

This sense of urgency, noted the galleriest, Mariane Ibrahim is compounded by the perception that “by the time you get your chance to acquire something, the prices will have risen beyond your reach.”

Now where is my stone? 

Have a great week folks!

1 thought on “AMOAKO BOAFO, COINS AND ART BASEL MIAMI.”

  1. I just saw his work about a week ago. His story is a very inspiring one. It’s very wild how galleries are slowly just becoming like museums. They do not hold as much power in who becomes ‘the next big thing.’ Platforms like Instagram are now claiming that space and becoming where people interact with art more than spaces like galleries and museums. Arguably, people are now deciding more on what deserves to be relicked.

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