Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City

Speaking of her subjects the artist says, "Although they are not real, I think of them as people known to me. They are imbued with a power of their own; they have a resonance -- something emphatic and other-worldly. I admire them for the strength of their moral fiber. If they are pathetic, they don't survive; if I feel sorry for someone, I get rid of them. I don't like to paint victims."

It is fitting that Ms. Yiadom-Boakye's first exhibit would be at the Jack Shainman Gallery. The focus of Mr. Shainman's gallery has always been to exhibit, represent, and champion artists from all over the world, in particular artists from Africa, East Asia, and North America. Although the artists whom he selects employ all mediums, there is a tendency towards conceptual as well as politically and socially engaged artwork.

Art critics say that viewers look at Ms.Yiadom-Boakye's paintings and the strange, sometimes surreal, scenarios within, in an attempt to construct relationships within their compositions. The paintings become essays and documents between her reality, history, and imagination.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (born 1977, London, UK) is an artist of Ghanaian descent based in London. For more information, visit the Gallery at 513 West 20^th Street, New York, New York 10011, or visit www.jackshainman.com or email info@jackshainman.com.

Here is more information about Lynette Yiadom-Boakye:

Boakye attended Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Falmouth College of Arts and the Royal Academy Schools. She has presented her work in many important exhibitions including "Living Together : Towards a Contemporary Concept of Community", curated by Xabier Arakistain and Emma Dexter, Centro Cultural Montehermoso Kulturenea, Vittoria-Gasteiz, Spain ; travelled to MARCO, Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Vigo, Spain (2009) ; The 7th Gwangju Biennial, curated by Okwui Enwezor, Korea (2008) ; "Flow", The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2008) ; "The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society", 2nd International Biennal of Contemporary Art of Seville, curated by Okwui Enwezor, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporareo Reale Ataronanas, Seville (2006-2007); "Bloomberg New Contemporaries", Barbican, London (2004-2005); "Direkte Malerei", Mannheimer Kunsthalle, Mannheim (2004). Her work is included in the new book Contemporary African Art Since 1980, ed. Okwui Enwezor.