I did come to this show when it first opened in early 2020 – but it was barely on for two weeks before the pandemic caused all galleries to shut and it was gone. I was impressed then but I was even more impressed at today’s press preview. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is still young (she was born in 1977 in London to Ghanaian parents) yet she has created a huge body of work and established an international reputation. It is so satisfying to see a figurative artist simply revelling in the act of painting. Yes, the paintings are of people and she does use photographs, cuttings from magazines and papers and collected images, but the finished works are not of people with a name. But, in a way, the very anonymity of these paintings invites the viewer to fill in the narrative, to give the figures a place in the world, a career, education, relationships and philosophy.

She likes to capture her figures in the action of thinking, being and doing. There’s a lot of movement to these subjects. And, best of all, she features the smile and the laugh. This is rare in portraiture mainly because it’s hard to find a sitter who will stay fixed in mid chuckle or amused gaze. This is where the photos for reference come in handy. But there’s nothing better than seeing someone in a painting looking directly at you, in your viewer’s space and engaging you in a shared thought.

The exhibition is not organised chronologically. The artist has worked with the curators to assemble paintings in galleries because of their shared gaze or situation, or dialogue. You can imagine all these fantasy people coming to life after the gallery is closed and chatting to each other with great energy and zest.

The painting technique interests me too. I look at them and see speed of work. This is, apparently, the case. Yiadom-Boakye does choose to work quickly. I can see that she starts on a white canvas or linen, uses great sweeps of red paint for the underdrawing and swiftly creates the image on top using dark tones but leaves little flecks of white and light to enliven the image. There is nothing laboured or detailed about these works yet you get just enough information. The gaze, the sense of engagement is very strong.

This is impressive to see at a 20 year mark. Who knows what the next 20 years will allow her to create!

Fly in League with the Night is on show at Tate Britain until 26th February 2023