Chris Ofili

Publisher: Rizzoli

Publish Date: 2009

Forward by Peter Doig. Texts by David Adjaye, Carol Becker, Okwui Enwezor, Cameron Shaw, and Kara Walker. Interview with the artist by Thelma Golden

Chris Ofili’s intricately constructed works, combining beadlike dots of paint, collaged images from popular media, and elephant dung, create a unique iconography that marries African artistic and ritual practices with Western art historical traditions and contemporary hip-hop culture. This beautifully designed book, made in close collaboration with the artist, is the first to examine Ofili’s artistic development and surveys his work in watercolor, graphite drawing, and sculpture. Literary and historical parallels from a formidable list of contributors explore the ways through which the artist has grasped his times with a palpable sense of history.

Details

Publisher: Rizzoli

Artist: Chris Ofili

Contributors: David Adjaye, Carol Becker, Peter Doig, Okwui Enwezor, Thelma Golden, Cameron Shaw, Kara Walker

Publication Date: 2009

ISBN: 9780847832156

Retail: $85 US & Canada | £54 | €68

Status: Not Available

Designer: Green Dragon Office

Binding: Hardcover

Dimensions: 9 3/4 x 12 1/2 in (24.8 x 31.8 cm)

Pages: 268

Artist and Contributors

Chris Ofili

Chris Ofili (b. 1968) creates intricate, kaleidoscopic paintings and works on paper that merge abstraction and figuration. His works—vibrant, symbolic, and often mysterious—draw upon the landscapes and traditions of Trinidad, where he has lived since 2005. Employing a range of aesthetic and cultural sources, including Zimbabwean cave paintings, blaxploitation films, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and modernist painting, Ofili’s work investigates the intersection of desire, identity, and representation.

David Adjaye

David Adjaye is the founder and principal architect of Adjaye Associates, with offices in London, New York, and Berlin.

Carol Becker

Carol Becker is Dean of The School of the Arts at Columbia University in New York City.

Peter Doig

Peter Doig has had major solo exhibitions at Tate Britain, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris among other international museums and galleries. He lives and works in Trinidad.

Okwui Enwezor

Okwui Enwezor is director of Haus der Kunst. He has served as artistic director of several international exhibitions, including the 56th Venice Biennale (2015); La Triennale 2012, Paris; 7th Gwangju Biennale (2008); 2nd Seville Biennial (2006); Documenta 11, Kassel (2002); and the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale (1997). He is the former dean of academic affairs and senior vice president of the San Francisco Art Institute, and has held the position of visiting professor at several universities including Columbia University and New York University.

Thelma Golden

Thelma Golden is Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Cameron Shaw

Cameron Shaw is a critic and fiction writer based in New Orleans.

Kara Walker

Kara Walker is an internationally renowned visual artist. Her work is included in numerous museums and public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Tate Gallery, London.

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