When I visited the painter Ludovic Nkoth in his airy, plant-filled Montmartre studio this summer, he was preparing for three shows, in Los Angeles, Milan, and Paris. Known for his expressive, gestural use of paint and his commitment to placing Blackness at the center of portraiture, Nkoth, 28, has found himself in high demand.
Hanging on the walls were a few of his richly colored canvases. They depicted old friends and family from the U.S. as well as new acquaintances he’d met in Paris while completing a residency at the Académie des Beaux Arts x Cité Internationale des Arts. Among the paintings was High Notes, an arresting double portrait of a pair of musicians he’d met on the street in Château Rouge, a neighborhood popular with African migrants. It’s now on view in his solo show at François Ghebaly, in Los Angeles.
