Summary of Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili is famous for shocking the world by using elephant dung on a painting of the Virgin Mary, however as well as being provocative, his work is embroiled in a nuanced and complex set of religious and socio-political issues.
His paintings include unconventional craft materials such as glitter, map pins, glue and collage, as well as the more controversial elephant dung. His work is often seductively brightly colored, detailed, and heavily layered so that new details and images might appear on each viewing of a painting. Ofili’s primary interest is in documenting and celebrating Black experiences and memorializing and challenging instances of racist violence. He also often returns to themes of religion, particularly as displayed throughout art history.
Accomplishments
- Hybridity is an idea introduced by postcolonial theorist, Homi Bhaba, to name the way that migration, particularly between places that have been colonized, and those doing the colonizing, produces new complex identities, which are a mix of multiple cultures, rituals, and ideas. Ofili's paintings often mix Western and Nigerian iconography and ideas in one canvas, and also use collage and multimedia techniques to suggest multiplicity and diversity coming together in one space.
- Ofili's paintings often appear decorative, that is they are extremely pleasing to look at and use materials, such as glitter and map pins, associated with unserious aesthetic objects. To call a contemporary artist's work 'decorative' is usually an insult, as it suggests there is nothing beyond appearance in the work. Ofili challenges this by making delicate, beautiful images using techniques from traditional African and Aboriginal art, which then draw you into their political complexities.
- Almost all of Ofili's work deals with elements of Black experience. The work is explicitly anti-racist and often challenges white supremacy and its real (in the streets) and symbolic (in galleries) violence. Ofili is also one of the few artists to make work about police violence against black people, here using a subdued, dark palette very different to his bright, dynamic paintings.
Biography of Chris Ofili
Born in 1968 in Manchester, England, to Nigerian parents, Chris Ofili was the second of four children. His parents had only been in the country for three years when he was born, and they worked hard to give their children a good life. They were both employed in the McVities biscuit factory, but Ofili's father, Michael, left the family when Chris was 11 years old and went back to Nigeria where he had another family.
