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Afro Apparition

To ban or not to ban? That was the question over a decade ago when the Brooklyn Museum of Art exhibited works by a young artist of Nigerian heritage named CHRIS OFILI, whose style mixed traditional African motifs with popular culture, particularly the urban experience and hip hop. Inspired by Warhol, Matisse, Rousseau, and Snoop Dog, Chris often used his artistic canvas to challenge black stereotypes, 1970′s black exploitation films and even comic book superheroes. For many his work was either deeply flawed or an interesting intersection where paint and culture collided.

Devil’s Pie

Born in Manchester, England in 1968, Chris attended the Royal College of Art in London and even studied pre-historic cave paintings in Zimbabwe. Together these experiences formed the foundation for Chris’s dramatic interpretations on canvas and what some deemed offensive at times. But that was over a decade ago, and Chris has moved on and his work is now more pared down, nuanced and sophisticated.

Elle Decor

In fact, the Turner Prize winner (1998) has held successful exhibits from New York to Berlin to London to Moscow, and he even represented Great Britain at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 along with architect David Adjaye. And as a design enthusiast, I have noticed his artwork popping up in interior design projects more often, so maybe the world has finally accepted the Avedon theory that if “art isn’t controversial, then it’s failed” and that creative people were put here to teach us all something. I say, free your mind and the rest will follow.

Dance Stance

Afro Nirvana

No Woman, No Cry

Raising Lazarus

Untitled

Photo and Images © 2000-2007 Chris Ofili.

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