29 July 2021
Uplift Aerospace s first Suborbital Triptych, to be created by artist Amoako Boafo, will be applied to the three parachute cover panels on Blue Origin s New Shepard space capsule.
(Image credit: Blue Origin/collectSPACE.com)
Earlier this year, a prominent lifestyle magazine ran a profile of figurative painter Amoako Boafo, hailing his stratospheric rise among the upper echelons of the art world.
Little did they know at the time, the stratosphere would only be the start for where the 37-year-old Ghanaian s art was headed.
As announced on Thursday (July 29), Boafo will create Uplift Aerospace s first Suborbital Triptych, a three-panel painting that will fly into space on the outside of Blue Origin s New Shepard rocket. Through the physical stresses of its launch and re-entry, Boafo s artwork will be changed both literally and figuratively creating a unique record of the flight.
Amoako Boafo was selected to be featured in the Africa Present: INVEST section
Amoako Boafo is a Ghanaian contemporary artist known for his portraits of Black figures typically done on solid color backgrounds. Creating highly textural pieces by choosing to work with his fingers rather than a traditional brush, Boafo has become an international phenomena after being discovered by another art world titan, Kehinde Wiley, via Instagram in 2018. The present work, titled
Limestone in reference to the color of the stone used to create the work through the lithographic process, was published and released by the Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago and done in partnership with the Parisian printing house, Ibem Paris. Ibem Paris is best known for their traditional printing techniques that have been employed by the use of world renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Joan Miro and Henri Matisee to name a few. This will be the first time a Boafo print has even been offered at auct