Lynette
Yiadom-Boakye
Lynette
Yiadom-Boakye
Yiadom-Boakye
Lynette Yiadom Boakye is a British painter born in London to Ghanaian parents. Her unique work draws parallels between psychology and politics.
The artist mainly paints fictional portraits she calls "suggestions of people". Painted in the manner of Edouard Manet or Edgar Degas, who influenced her, the figures emerge from a usually dark background. Detached from time and space, they seem to be shrouded in a certain mystery despite their expressiveness. "People ask me, ‘Who are they? Where are they?’ Instead they should be asking, 'What are they?'' Boakye's subjects are Black. She attaches great importance to depicting Black American communities, taking their case to institutions that have long ignored them.
Trained at the Royal Academy School in London, Boakye began painting in 2006. Her work has been exhibited many times in Europe and the United States. Some of her paintings in the Pinault Collection attest to her interest in contemporary social and political issues. Her works in the Pinault Collection were first exhibited at the 2018 "Debout !” (“Stand Up!”) show at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes.
The artist mainly paints fictional portraits she calls "suggestions of people". Painted in the manner of Edouard Manet or Edgar Degas, who influenced her, the figures emerge from a usually dark background. Detached from time and space, they seem to be shrouded in a certain mystery despite their expressiveness. "People ask me, ‘Who are they? Where are they?’ Instead they should be asking, 'What are they?'' Boakye's subjects are Black. She attaches great importance to depicting Black American communities, taking their case to institutions that have long ignored them.
Trained at the Royal Academy School in London, Boakye began painting in 2006. Her work has been exhibited many times in Europe and the United States. Some of her paintings in the Pinault Collection attest to her interest in contemporary social and political issues. Her works in the Pinault Collection were first exhibited at the 2018 "Debout !” (“Stand Up!”) show at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes.
