joseph scissorhands: 2025

Sunday, 18 May 2025

Amoako Boafo: I Do Not Come to You by Chance

Amoako Boafo - Shoulder Stand, 2023

"The primary idea of my practice is representation, documenting, celebrating and showing new ways to approach Blackness... I make paintings that allow me to celebrate where I come from and what I aspire to be, while sharing unique perspectives and understanding."
— Amoako Boafo.

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) - Prince William NII Nortey Dowuona, 1897

At last. At long last. Finally, the chance to experience the paintings of Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo face-to-face at a branch of his gallerist Gagosian in London. I have been watching Boafo's meteoric ascent in the art world and the stratospheric prices achieved at auction as buyers vie to get his paintings in the secondary market. It was an absolute pleasure then to finally get to take the paintings in, in the actual at Gagosian Grosvenor Hill. They are large figurative portrait paintings of black men and women whose skin textures are executed in tactile expressionistic paintwork created mostly by the artists' fingers which have been dipped in paint as well as brushes. Boafo's paintings are part of the canon of works redressing the imbalance of previously marginalised or overlooked black artists whose talents are now being recognised and given the opportunity to shine in major museums and galleries. Other notables in this respect include Kehinde Wiley (here), Jennifer Packer (here), Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (here), Kerry James Marshall (here and here), and Tavares Strachan who likewise also examine the black figure. Although rooted in blackness and a challenge to the objectification of black subjects in the history of Western art, one of the most immediate things that struck me about Boafo's paintings were the stylistic and compositional similarities to the works of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Boafo trained in Vienna and is now resident there, so perhaps could not resist absorbing elements of those two masters so synonymous with the artistic history of Vienna into his aesthetic. What is particularly interesting to me personally on seeing this exhibition and making the connections between the works of Klimt and Boafo, is doing so in the light of the recent discovery of a long-lost Klimt painting of a black African prince and representative of Ghanaian people. It is a sensitive, beautifully executed portrait of the prince in profile with loosely rendered florals in the background and decorative textile draped over his shoulder. Klimt painted the portrait in 1897, and it foreshadows his later work in which he would combine strong figuration with decorative and abstract elements. I would love to know Boafo's thoughts on the significance of this new discovery especially with the subject of the portrait hailing from his very own homeland. Amoako Boafo: I Do Not Come to You By Chance, is the title of this exhibition which takes its name from the title of Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani's 2009 novel. On entering the exhibition visitors encounter an interesting black pavilion-type wooden assemblage which apparently is a reconstruction of the courtyard complex of Boafo's childhood home. It is an impressive construction designed by architect Glenn DeRoche which must have been costly to erect and must surely represent the faith Gagosian have in Boafo as an artist. The courtyard houses a quartet of his portrait paintings, the most striking of which is White Lace Cape, 2025, in which a black woman imperiously, hands on hips, stares out of the canvas directly at the viewer. Again similarities cannot help but be made between certain of Klimt's powerful female portraits. In Amidst Tulips, 2025, also has a certain likeness, to my eyes at least, with Amy Sherald's famous and popular portrait of Michelle Obama. There is another built construction further into the exhibition installed to evoke a domestic setting with seating and a table on which are placed playing/tarot cards peopled with Boafo's figures. Boafo exploits the decorative possibilities of lace on his figures contrasting the delicate patterns against the swirling textures of the subjects skin. Another trait of the artist in this series of works is the use of pearl necklaces upon his models. He even depicts himself in pearls riding his bike, and lounging on a patterned sofa challenging prevailing notions about black masculinity. Surprising as it is that it has taken so long for there to be a show of Boafo's work in the UK, on the strength of this showing I don't think it will be his last.

White Frames, 2023

White Lace Cape, 2025

Amidst Tulips, 2025

Fun and Giggles, 2025

Nana Asare and the Tulip Chair, 2025

Guipure Neck, 2025

Shoulder Stand, 2023

Black Pedestal Fan, 2025

Self-Portrait with Cacti, 2024

Birds and Plants, 2024

Black Cycle, 2025

Pearl Earrings, 2025

Self-Portrait - Floral Kaleidoscope Sofa, 2025

Nkyinkyim, 2025

Amoako Boafo: I Do Not Come to You by Chance

until May 24th

Gagosian Grosvenor Hill

20 Grosvenor Hill

London

W1K

Sunday, 11 May 2025

Goya to Impressionism. Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection.

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (1864-1901) - The Clown Cha-U-Kao, 1895

"Even if such works may legally be owned by an individual, in a higher sense they belong to everyone, their owner is their only custodian." - Oskar Reinhart.

In the autumn of last year I was fortunate enough to see a significant part of the Heinz Berggruen Collection in Paris (here) whilst its usual home in Berlin was being renovated. Similarly the home of the Oskar Reinhart collection found in Switzerland is undergoing refurbishment work and part of their collection has travelled to London for a short while. Despite sold out tickets I was again fortunate enough to get to see highlights from this smaller private collection of art closer to home at the Courtauld Gallery. Goya to Impressionism. Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection, is a small but significant holding of paintings from a certain period in art history. The collection is based at the museum and villa of Am Römerholz in Winterthur near Zurich, and it is the first time that a major group of works from that museum has been shown outside of Switzerland. The choice of the Courtauld to display these works is fitting as they seamlessly complement the Courtauld's own collection of Impressionist works and there are certain parallels between the lives of both Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965) and Samuel Courtauld (1876-1947). Both men had a mutual admiration for the works of Cézanne, Manet and Van Gogh and both held paintings by artist Honoré Daumier depicting the fictional character Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, both of which can be seen with a visit to this temporary exhibition and the permanent collection. Courtauld and Reinhart actually met in 1932 and shared the view that ultimately the purpose of their collections was that they be shared with the public. The exhibition opens with a very realistic painted trio of salmon steaks by Goya which can be read as a bloody allegory of the cost in lives of the Peninsuar War. Next we have a turbulent Courbet painting of crashing waves created with a palette knife, and an erotic, languorous portrait of a woman in a hammock also by Courbet which was regarded as too controversial and subsequently rejected by the French Academy of the day. The second room of the exhibition contained my favourite works. There were the two paintings by Van Gogh from the time of his stay in the asylum at Arles one of which was seen in London only recently at the National Gallery's amazing Van Gogh Poets and Lovers exhibition (here), both of which are beautifully complemented by his Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889, from the same period seen in the next room in the Courtauld's permanent collection. Manet's Au Cafe, 1878, was another painting I particularly liked which was cut in two by Manet shortly after its completion as he was unhappy with the composition of the painting. The other half of the work - Corner of a Café-Concert, 1878-80, is now in the National Gallery just along the Strand. What a shame they couldn't have reunited the two canvases specifically for this exhibition. Apart from this Monet's The Break-Up of Ice on the Seine, 1880-81, is worthy of a mention and an important predecessor to his later waterlily series. There are a couple of lovely Cézanne landscapes, and an early Picasso Blue Period portrait which also stand out. My favourite piece from the Oskar Reinhart collection though, was Toulouse Lautrec's The Clown Cha-U-Kao, 1895, depicting a larger than life cabaret performer at the Moulin Rouge, full of colour and character adopting an easy, self-confident pose. Although not as extensive or comprehensive as the Berggruen or Shchukin collections, there were nevertheless several fairly important paintings in the Oskar Reinhart collection that I was more than happy to have to have made the acquaintance of on their brief stay here in the capital.