CuratorSpace Artist Bursary #20: Kofi Perry

Kofi Perry (1998) is an American figurative artist based in London. Using historical methods, he paints and draws characters set in a Afrofuturist world he has created. Critical to his practice is the technique of figurative invention, or working without the use of live models.

"For the past several months I have been creating a new body of work comprised of 15-20 small paintings, and several larger ones based on these small studies. All the works depict characters from a fictional Afrofuturist world I have created. Examples include 'A Young Initiate', a painting about self confidence and social acceptance that portrays a character baring his gold-covered teeth to the viewer.

'Lunar Inspiration' depicts a woman putting on a shoe while she rushes to record a religious insight, and is inspired by the many ‘bathing’ works of Edgar Degas. 'Eagle Eyed Master' is another portrait of a character belonging to a class of devotional sculptors - his sharp judgment of form and design represents to me the ideal disciplined artist. Yet another portrait painting is 'Shared Knowledge', which portrays a smiling character and symbolizes the frequent instances of unspoken recognition among black people while in white social spaces.

I'm happy to say that many of these small works are already being exhibited in London galleries. One titled 'Caught with Ninth Star’s Amulet', which shows a figure caught by his enemies while wearing a magical gold necklace, will be shown at Mall Galleries in September 2023. The CuratorSpace bursary will enable me to develop these small paintings into larger compositions, and help realize my project to its completion."

See more of Kofi's work here.

You can find out more and apply for the CuratorSpace Artist Bursary at https://bursary.curatorspace.com.
 

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