Augustine Kofie were born in 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
He lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

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’ “drafted” art is inspired by mechanical drafting and the language of modern architecture as he 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 graffiti scene of the West Los Angeles district since the mid-nineties, Kofie’ work reflects the influence of the craft of deconstructing lettering, street culture, contemporary music, and 1960s-70s iconography to create a unique language.

You can almost smell the past in them; the scent of stacked papers, filed away for years; the smell of estate sales and vintage ephemera. And yet in the very same moment, you can also see something; perceive something of the future. Something unknown. Something yet to come. Or is this perhaps the future as seen from days gone by? Is it the present day as looked at from the past?
This practice of “Vintage Futurism”, as he has termed it, is central to Augustine Kofie’s work.

Kofie also makes collages, often with elements brought home from the places he has previously visited. When he was in Aalborg in 2021, he brought home, among other things magazines carefully selected in Pilegaard Antikvariat.

Kofie grew up with Los Angeles right-angled skyline, so when he visited Aalborg in 2021, he was struck by the unfamiliar pattern of triangular roofs that repeats itself across Aalborg's residential skyline. This pattern became the inspiration for his Mural in Aalborg, Ekkolokation, painted as part of the 2021 'Out in the Open' mural project. The pattern from the city's roofs appears again in his more recent works on canvas. The circular form, which was previously prominent in Kofie's works, appears here as a background horizon or a fragment in the foreground. The visual form that predominates in Kofie's works is the splintered fractures produced by the friction of shapes bumping against each other. These splintered fragments, which collect and refract all the light, are the offshoot of Kofie's mural, which is why many of his newer works contain the inspiration, energy and symbolism from that particular mural.

Kofie has been featured in Juxtapoz, Graffiti Art Magazine, the World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti, Le Petit Voyeur and VNA Magazine 26. His work is in both national and international private collections.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022
PRISMA - Kirk Gallery - Aalborg, Denmark
ROTATIONSHIPS - Heron Arts, San Francisco

2021
State Of Mind - Hashimoto Contemporary - New York

2020
Adventures in tonality - Galleri Open Space - Paris, France

2019
Augustine Kofie X Monkey Time - Monkey Time Boutique Harajuku, Japan
Darkest Before the Dawn - Stolenspace -London

2018
Mnkzm - Swinton & Grant - Madrid, Spain

2017
Build From memory - Galleri Open Space - Paris, France

2015
Inventory - Jonathan LeVine Gallery - New York
Off/Grid - David Bloche Gallery - Marrakech

2014
Taking Shape - Galleri Open Space - Paris, France
Yesterdays Advance - Celaya Brothers Gallery - Mexico D.F.

2013
Structurally Sound - White Walls Gallery - San Francisco
California Soul - Galleri Open Space - Paris, France

2012
Working An Angle - Known Gallery - Los Angeles

2011
Circulatory System - White Walls Gallery - San Francisco

2010
Retrofitted - White Walls Gallery - San Francisco

2009
Vintage Futurism - Zero1 Gallery - Los Angeles

2007
Kofie Vs Suru - Suru Store - Los Angeles

2006
Electric Avenue - Bent Gallery - Pasadena
Hands On - Transport Gallery - Los Angeles

2005
Recent Painting - Still Life Gallery - New York
Claska Gallery Installation - Meguro-Ku, Tokyo, Japan

2004
Streetwise 3 - Lab 101 Gallery - Santa Monica

2001
Mobilization - 33 1/3 Gallery - Los Angeles



SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024
Urban Fractions, KIRK Gallery, Aalborg, Denmark

2023
10 year anniversary | Out in the Open , KIRK Gallery, Aalborg, Denmark
Art Herning, KIRK Gallery, Aalborg, Denmark

2022
DETOUR ART HERNING - Kirk Gallery - Aalborg, Denmark
Inaugural group exhibition - MIRUS Gallery - Los Angeles

2021
Altered States - Sugar Press Art - Online via Los Angeles
Inaugural group exhibition - Hashimoto Contemporary - Los Angeles
INSIDE OUT - Kirk Gallery - Aalborg, Denmark
DETOUR ART HERNING - Kirk Gallery - Aalborg, Denmark

2020
Greetings From Miami - Hashimoto Contemporary - New York
INCOGNITO Benifit show- Institute of Contemporary Art - Los Angeles, CA
Multiples - Hashimoto Contemporary - New York
Inside Out, KIRK Gallery, Denmark

2019
Up The Wall, KIRK Gallery, Denmark
Graffuturism: Robert Proch & A. Kofie - Le Vog - Grenoble, France

2014
Assioma: Moneyless & A. Kofie - Avantgarden Gallery - Milan, Italy

2013
3 The Hard Way: J.Inscoe, CD Bruno, A.Kofie - BreezeBlock - Portland

2012
Conversations: Jaybo & A. Kofie - Soze Gallery - Los Angeles
Gather: 2 man Exhibition - The Lovell Gallery - Cape Town, S. Africa

2009
Metallum - The Ronin Gallery - Echo Park

2007
Thanks with Frohawk 2-Feathers, Unitard gallery - Los Angeles

2005
Greg Craola Simkins & Kofie One - FIFTY24SF Gallery - San Francisco

2003
Assemblage - Indigo Flower - Santa Monica