Sipping wine, looking at art or sampling pastries, the invented characters in Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings at Jack Shainman Gallery’s Chelsea and Tribeca spaces enjoy the good life while offering gallery viewers the pleasure of looking on. Yiadom-Boakye has explained that the language of painting itself is one of her key motivations and strong contrasts of light and color – a green cloth near a red curtain, an individual in a purple shirt before a bowl of oranges – are formal decisions to savor. In the gallery’s final room, three paintings of individuals enjoying desserts continue to present pleasure as a subject for consideration. In addition to this piece’s vibrant purple, green and yellow colors, a pie and jug of custard offer a satisfying experience of richness tempered only by the prominent knife in the foreground. (On view in Chelsea and Tribeca through July 31st).
