*Update. Taking Shape Opened last week and we were able to get some of the opening night pictures. 2 floors of paintings and multiple installations showcased not only the paintings and work of Augustine Kofie but also brought you into the world of the artist. One specific installation of a drafting table and recreated studio space with fragments of work in progress, materials, and ephemera that inspire the artist. The viewer is allowed to look over the should in a way seeing from the artists eye what makes his work personal. You are then able to view the completed paintings and collages in a new perspective and insight. The unprimed linen pieces that were part of another installation were intriguing and opened a window to new work from the artist as it was being created. This watching work in an exhibition that might or not be completed was one of my favorite portions of the exhibition. We look forward to seeing where Kofie takes these new works and also excited to see him once again in Paris with another successful exhibition.
Opening Photographs courtesy of Eric Lacan and Mathieu Vilasco
If you want to get in the mind or the mood of “Taking shape” look no further than the soundtrack to the exhibition which we embedded for you below. As is customary with Augustine Kofie’s Solo exhibitions he creates a unique and personal soundtrack to the exhibition. “Taking Shape” is his latest exhibition opening Next week with Openspace gallery Paris at a new special location for the event. Because this will be one of if not Kofie’s largest solo exhibitions Openspace Paris secured a large venue to host the exhibition. “Taking Shape” offers some of the artists signature work and style yet he continues to progress and refine an already meticulous aesthetic. New mediums such as a series of Tapestries are introduced as well as a new series of found and reclaimed canvas work. These new additions added to his already impressive range of work rounds out “Taking Shape”. We will keep this thread updated with installation shots and a full recap in the coming days.
GF
MasterMix Soundtrack for ‘Taking Shape’ @Openspace Gallery, Paris by 4x4tracktor on Mixcloud
AUGUSTINE KOFIE
SOLO SHOW “TAKING SHAPE”
OPENING 27 NOVEMBER AT 6:30 PM – PRESS OPENING AT 4 PM
Immersive, impressive, and scenographic at Bastille Design Center, Paris
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After the success of his first Paris solo show, “California Soul”, in April 2013, Openspace Gallery is delighted to invite Augustine Kofie again to exhibit in the French capitale. The Los Angeles-based artist is one of the leaders of the Graffuturism movement. Practicing graffiti in the 90s, exhibiting his studio work in the early 2000s, 2009 marked a turning point in his career, laying the foundations for his current work.
His artworks full of lines and structured shapes are composed with a mastery of scale and movement. A vintage feel also pervades his work; from the 60s magazine illustrations he uses for his collages to the salvaged materials he uses as media, through his choice of colours.
THE EXHIBITION
Following the off site exhibition by the French artist Éric Lacan, the Openspace gallery is curating Augustine Kofie’s second exhibition in France, from 27 November to 13 December. Once again, the exhibition will take place in the architecturally monumental, majestic 19th-century setting of the Bastille Design Center, where wood reigns supreme (even on the floor), an unprecedented echo of the American artist’s work.
Taking Shape explores Augustine Kofie’s artistic process, which operates when forms take shape in his mind and are materialised on canvas. The title also echoes the fact the artist is putting on the biggest exhibition of his career, displaying some fifty works on canvas and wood, found objects and installations and videos. New for this show, he has worked on fabrics for the very first time, a medium that has enjoyed renewed interest in the contemporary art world in the last decade and is emblematic of his approach, giving our artistic heritage a contemporary interpretation, and thus offering it a sense of continuity in art history.
