Viewing Amoako Boafo at Gagosian London

Amoako Boafo needs no introduction: the 40 year-old Ghanaian portraitist is celebrated around the world for his luminous, bold and original figurative paintings. He’s partnered in the past with Dior (a collaborative collection was released in 2021), and has painted on Jeff Bezos’s rocket ship. His works today regularly achieve seven figures at auction.

Boafo joined Gagosian in 2022, and this exhibition – his first UK solo show – is on view at the gallery’s Grosvenor Hill location. It is also his first solo exhibition in the UK. It’s title, I Do Not Come to You By Chance, is after Nigerian novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s 2009 novel – a humorous and poignant story of the conflicts and contradictions of contemporary life. The title places Boafo’s portraits too in the realm of rich contemporary African storytelling, able to make the personal feel epic and the universal feel intimate.

He has taken over the large galleries with paintings, but also an installation recreating the courtyard of his childhood home in Ghana, made with architect Glenn DeRoche. The exhibition includes a large number of new and recent self-portraits, including with the artist’s young son, and paintings of friends and family – their tactility and texture comes in part from Boafo’s innovative technique of painting with his fingers. “I make paintings that allow me to celebrate where I come from and what I aspire to be, while sharing unique perspectives and understanding”, the artist says.