Street artist Augustine Kofie, in collaboration with KIRK Gallery, has created a new mural entitled “Ekkolokation” for Out In The Open 2021 Mural Festival.
Kofie was first approached by KIRK Gallery to contribute to the festival over a year ago, but due to postponements because of Covid-19. The location for the mural is unique, with its confluence of paths, pedestrian walkways, one-way roads and a train line system all intersecting at the foot of the wall. In planning the mural, Kofie made sure to integrate the architecture of the building and the community as well.
“Ekkolokation is an abstract composition that highlights 4 triangular shapes echoing each other near the top of the wall, all shadowing one another, lit up from different angles by varied light sources. They come together like the multiple paths that converge upon the site. Structurally complimenting the angles of the home’s rooftop, the 4 triangles are supported by several transparent level squares, which in turn echo the bottom part of the building.”
“Another point of convergence can be found at the foot of the mural, where the lines all seem to bounce downward toward a confluence, a meeting place. Two partial, transparent, circular forms weave through the mural. One acts as a halo around the center of the design, bringing a feminine form to contrast the linear forms, and creating another point of convergence here. The second, smaller circle echoes the larger one, but uses the lower right corner of the wall as its center point, the junction to all of the foot paths of the street” Augustine Kofie explained.
“I designed the mural on the basis of these two concepts, echo and convergence, which have visual, sonic, structural and social articulations, allowing the mural to echo and speak to the city and to highlight and amplify this site of convergence” the artist stated.
With a deep interest in process and structure, Augustine Kofie creates works of intense detail centering order and tension in both his studio pieces and mural interventions. The precision of Kofie’s “drafted” art is inspired by mechanical drafting and the language of modern architecture and uses the paper detritus of the 20th century as building blocks.
In his quest for balance, Kofie harmonizes opposing and contradictory dynamics, setting futuristic compositions against vintage earth-toned palettes and creating technically complex, meticulously structured formations through handmade line-work and layering. Active in the west Los Angeles graffiti scene since the mid-nineties, the artist’s work reflects the influence of the craft of deconstructing lettering, street culture, contemporary music, and 1960s-70s iconography to create a unique language.
Source: StreetArt - streetartnews.net
