Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Diplomacy III, 2009
Oil on linen, 75 x 98 3/8 in. (190 x 250 cm)
Courtesy Susan Barrett and Faye Fleming & Partner, Geneva
 

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Debut, 2010
Oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 47 1/4 in. (200 x 120 cm) Courtesy Elliot Perry and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Any Number of Preoccupations, 2010
Oil on canvas, 160 x 200 cm
Courtesy Dr. Kenneth Montague / The Wedge Collection, Toronto, and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
9am Jerez de la Frontera, 2010
Oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 51 1/4 in. (200 x 130 cm)
Collection of Noel Kirnon; Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Nous Etions, 2007
Oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Pippa Cohen

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
The Signifying Donkey's Feat, 2003
Oil on canvas, 77 x 92 cm
The Studio Museum in Harlem; promised gift of Corey and Racquel Chevremont Baylor

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Diplomacy III, 2009
Oil on linen, 75 x 98 3/8 in. (190 x 250 cm)
Courtesy Susan Barrett and Faye Fleming & Partner, Geneva
 

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Debut, 2010
Oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 47 1/4 in. (200 x 120 cm) Courtesy Elliot Perry and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Any Number of Preoccupations, 2010
Oil on canvas, 160 x 200 cm
Courtesy Dr. Kenneth Montague / The Wedge Collection, Toronto, and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
9am Jerez de la Frontera, 2010
Oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 51 1/4 in. (200 x 130 cm)
Collection of Noel Kirnon; Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Nous Etions, 2007
Oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches
The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Pippa Cohen

Any Number of Preoccupations

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
The Signifying Donkey's Feat, 2003
Oil on canvas, 77 x 92 cm
The Studio Museum in Harlem; promised gift of Corey and Racquel Chevremont Baylor

Nov 11, 2010Mar 13, 2011

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Any Number of Preoccupations, organized by Associate Curator Naomi Beckwith, will be British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s very first solo museum exhibition. Yiadom-Boakye (b. 1977, London) was recently included in the Studio Museum’s Flow (Spring 2008), an acclaimed exhibition of new work by emerging African artists from across the world. On view from November 11, 2010—March 13, 2011, Any Number of Preoccupations will feature works created between 2003—when the artist completed her postgraduate work at the Royal Academy Schools—and 2010. The twenty-four works on view are a mix of her larger and smaller canvases of fictional portraits, primarily oil-on-canvas. Similar to a novelist, Yiadom-Boakye creates characters that have lively back stories; yet she leaves it up to the viewer’s imagination to fill in the details of these fictional lives. She works quickly, embracing the physicality and technicality of painting, and often destroys unsuccessful work—a strategy she says helps her maintain “freshness and urgency.” Language is a strong influence on Yiadom-Boakye; in addition to painting she is a prolific writer of fiction, poetry and essays. The catalogue for the exhibition features essays by Beckwith and renowned critic and curator Okwui Enwezor, a short story by Yiadom-Boakye, and a foreword by Studio Museum Director and Chief Curator Thelma Golden.

Below, hear Lynette Yiadom-Boakye speak about her painting practice, exclusive to studiomuseum.org!

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