LONDON.- Gagosian opened It’s in the Little Things, a group exhibition conceived by Amoako Boafo at the gallery in London’s Burlington Arcade, featuring work by Stephen Allotey, Aplerh-Doku Borlabi, Kwesi Botchway, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Adjei Tawiah, and Boafo himself.

In I Do Not Come to You by Chance, his solo exhibition at Gagosian’s Grosvenor Hill gallery in April, Boafo traced his artistic development from the courtyard of Osu Ashintey in Accra, where he first learned to paint, to the bedroom of his Austrian apartment. In It’s in the Little Things, he shows how this journey has been intertwined with those of five artists he studied with at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra. Seeking to overcome the barriers erected by a society often hostile to art making, Boafo and his contemporaries established a network rooted in communication and support, and It’s in the Little Things illuminates this grouping’s patterns of influence and understanding.

In intimate portraits of Black subjects such as She Knows (2024), Botchway uses vivid coloration to communicate a rich sense of individual personality. Dubbing his style “Afro-Impressionism,” he also employs heightened contrast and texture while focusing on details of his sitters’ clothing and physique. Similarly, Quaicoe’s paintings direct the viewer’s attention toward the intricacies of distinctive apparel, with works such as Wilderness II (2023) revealing the direct influence of photography in their strikingly immediate figuration. Borlabi draws inspiration from Accra’s Coco Beach neighborhood, where he was raised, and in Emerald Glam (2025) and other works he reflects on his cultural and ethnic identity by applying fibrous coconut sheath along with oil paint, echoing the structure and tonality of each figure’s skin.

To produce works such as Colorful Smile (2025), Tawiah paints using nylon sponge in a method inspired by having witnessed the cleansing of his mother’s corpse. The paintings’ saturated palette also resonates with this profound experience by gesturing toward the optimism and creativity that eventually follow periods of difficulty and loss. In Allotey’s acutely observed sculptural busts he models Black figures, including friends and family members, in three dimensions, exploring a variety of candid poses and expressions. Finally, in a new painting, Red Collar Blouse (2025), Boafo again manipulates paint with his fingers to produce portrait imagery that embodies unique character and style, conveying a powerful sense of individuality, identity, and presence.

Boafo’s commitment to creating space for fellow artists is also reflected in his other exhibitions with Gagosian. Ever So Present II: Between Home and Elsewhere, on view at Park & 75 in New York through August 8, is curated by Brice Arsène Yonkeu, the inaugural participant in the dot.ateliers curatorial residency program that Boafo founded in Ghana in 2024 (following his establishment of an artist’s residency under the same banner in 2022). Complementing It’s in the Little Things, it highlights Boafo’s fostering of artistic community.

From July 3 to August 29, Boafo is taking over the Shop in London’s Burlington Arcade with a selection of merchandise and publications.

Stephen Allotey was born in Accra in 1986, and lives and works there. Exhibitions include Side by Side, dot.ateliers, Accra (2022–23).

Aplerh-Doku Borlabi was born in Accra in 1987, and lives and works there. Exhibitions include In Our Nature, SEPTIEME, Paris (2023); and Uncaged and Watered, Gallery 1957, London (2023–24).

Kwesi Botchway was born in Accra in 1994, and lives and works there. Collections include Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Group exhibitions include Accra! The Rise of a Global Art Community, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio (2023–24), and When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa (2023, traveled to Kunstmuseum Basel and Bozar, Brussels, 2024–25).

Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe was born in Accra in 1988, and lives and works in Portland, Oregon. Collections include Pérez Art Museum Miami; and Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels. Exhibitions include When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa (2023, traveled to Kunstmuseum Basel and Bozar, Brussels, 2024– 25); Cowboy, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas (2024–25); and Portraits Revealed, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California (2025).

Adjei Tawiah was born in Accra in 1987, and lives and works there. Exhibitions include Threads of Past and Present, Gallery 1957, London (2022); and I Miss Us, Opera Gallery, New York (2023).