Chris Ofili

A religious context can be considered in the analysis of the work for Ofili. His Catholic upbringing is still an interest that influences his work. In an interview with Thelma Golden, he says: “I just make things with subjects that come from me or address me, and one of the many things I am fascinated by is religion and the complexities of having religious thoughts and drive…”

Source: Ofili, Chris. “Within Reach 15 June to 2 November 2003 at the British Pavilion, 50^th Venice Biennale”. “Volume I Words.” London: Victoria Miro Gallery, 2003.

 

 

Source photograph: Ofili, Chris. “Within Reach 15 June to 2 November 2003 at the British Pavilion, 50^th Venice Biennale”. “Volume II Works.” London: Victoria Miro Gallery, 2003.

The subject matter in the exhibition “Within Reach” for the 50th Venice Biennale is love in paradise, black culture and racial issues. Ofili uses elephant dung to incorporate his connection with Africa into his work. The paintings depict a black couple, a man and a woman, in paradise.  Paradise, because he uses lush foliage and a star shaped moon. The couple is clearly in love as they are hugging and kissing each other. Ofili is also hinting that there could be trouble in paradise as in “AFRO LOVE AND ENVY” (2002-2003) he painted a snake. With his fascination by religion in mind, one could consider that the couple is related to Adam and Eve.

I chose the Youtube video (see link below) about “The Upper Room” exhibition because Ofili himself talks about religion and how it is an important part of existing and art history, and interesting for him to try to grapple with it in a painted way. In other words how to transfer and express it into his paintings.  There are 13 paintings in “The Upper Room” exhibition, twelve paintings are the same size and the thirteenth is larger, and it is widely accepted that this suggests Christ and his Apostles.

In the video Ofili also states that he is interested in creating an atmosphere for the viewers to be able to feel immersed in the paintings. Therefore it is important for him to incorporate the exhibition space into the exhibition with the aim of enhancing the experience of the viewer.

In the Youtube video of 2 March 2010 below you see London based Grime musician (mc) Tinie Tempah visiting Chris Ofili’s exhibition in the Tate Gallery. If you do not know what Grime music is go to: http://www.ehow.com/about_5877221_mark-copyright-laws.html. Tempah talks about how the work of Chris Ofili inspires him and how doing research is an important part of the process of making and understanding art.

When he views “The Upper Room” paintings he compares the process of making a painting to the process of making a song and the similarity of the methodology between the two, as both processes consist of the use of layers.

From 3.17 to 3.22 you see a glimpse of two paintings that were part of the “Within Reach” exhibition that my essay is about. The painted elephant dung in particularly is clearly visible. At the end of the video he talks about his appreciation of art and what is special about art. I like this video because a connection is made between two different expressions of art and to see how someone else appreciates, is affected and inspired by Chris Ofili’s art.

The subject matter in this exhibition is love in paradise, black culture and racial issues. Ofili uses elephant dung to incorporate his connection with Africa into his work. The paintings depict a black couple, a man and a woman, in paradise.  Paradise, because he uses lush foliage and a star shaped sun or moon. The couple is clearly in love as they are hugging and kissing each other. Ofili is also hinting that there could be trouble in paradise as in “AFRO LOVE AND ENVY” (2002-2003) he painted a snake (see figure 1) and in “AFRO RED WEB” (2002-2003) a spider’s web (see figure 2). With his fascination by religion in mind, one could consider that the couple is related to Adam and Eve.