Kennington News

GASWORKS     PRESS RELEASE

London

SE11 5RH

                                       2 June – 22 July 2007

Tel: +44 (0)20 7582 6848

Fax: +44 (0)20 7582 0159

info@gasworks.org.uk

www.gasworks.org.uk      

Tube: Vauxhall/Oval

Bus: 2, 36, 133, 159, 436       

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s work draws from imagination and from life; her paintings allude to traditions of European portraiture but are less concerned with formality or specific individuals and more interested in capturing a certain mood through the subjects’ attitude, glance or stare.

She places her invented characters in front of a minimally coloured background, reminiscent of generic photography studios that eliminate the characters’ context. This choice implies a deliberate disengagement with some of the issues of portraiture such as the social position, profession and a personality implied by external means. Instead, the background provides a base from which the characters emanate a certain aura, presenting them as iconic individuals with an enigmatic and inquisitive character that both confronts and attracts the viewer. There are few signs that may hint at a personality such as the style of clothing or a certain pose; however, it is the lack of distraction that draws us into the world of the sitter.

Yiadom-Boakye’s work possesses a raw edginess coupled with gentle elegance which results from her quick and unrestrained brush strokes. Often, a whole body of work develops simultaneously, through an imagined dialogue between the various canvasses during the process of making. The artist works swiftly and the result is often a complicit relationship between the subjects and the artist.

Event: Saturday 14 July, 3pm

Marcus Verhagen, freelance critic and writer, will be in conversation with Lynette Yiadom-Boakye on the exhibition and her practice.

                                       Notes for Editors.

This will be Yiadom-Boakye’s first solo exhibition in London. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye graduated from the Royal Academy in 2003, and lives and works in London.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s recent exhibitions have included The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society, 2nd Seville Biennial, 2006; Liquid, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Gary Hume, Royal Academy Schools Gallery, London, 2006; Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Coach Shed, Liverpool, and Barbican, London, 2004-05; and John Moores 23, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, 2004. She has work in the collection of the Kunsthalle Mannheim and received a Decibel award for Visual Arts in 2006

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye currently has a solo presentation of her works at Arquebuse, Switzerland.

Gasworks is open Wednesday to Sunday 12-6pm. Admission is free.

Gasworks has full wheelchair access.

For further information and images, please contact Amy Croft at press@gasworks.org.uk    tel: 020 7582 6848   fax: 020 7582 0159

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