ART CITIES:N.York-Night and Day
Occupying the New Museum’s three main galleries, “Chris Ofili: Night and Day” will span the artist’s influential career, encompassing his paintings, drawings, and sculptures. As the title of the exhibition suggests the visitor comes into contact with over thirty paintingsa large number of drawings, as well as a selection of sculptures from throughout his career.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Archive of New Museum
Chris Ofili came to prominence in the early ‘90s, he is one of the Young British Artists. He won the Turner Prize in 1998. In 2003 he was selected to represent Great Britain at the 50th Venice Biennale. Artist innovative and pioneering, surprised us by creating an entirely personal artistic style, with richly paintings combining rippling dots of paint, drifts of glitter, collaged images and elephant dung – varnished, often studded with map pins and applied to the picture surface as well as supporting the canvas – a combination of physical elevation and symbolic link to the earth. His work, first appeared in Greece at the Deste Foundation: surprised, impressed, created issues, questions, quotes and objections, but certainly did not pass unnoticed. The exhibition will bring together more than 12 of his canvases from this period, which combine spectacularly rendered psychedelic surfaces with provocative imagery from a staggering array of cultural sources, from religious icons to Blaxploitation films. From this early period, Ofili established an approach to painting that is both seductive and rigorously historical.
Chris Ofili has taken imagery and inspiration from such disparate, history-spanning sources as the Bible, hip-hop music, Zimbabwean cave paintings, films, and William Blake’s poems. After moving to Trinidad from London in 2005, Ofili’s work took a new direction and prompted “The Blue Rider” series, which takes its name from the early 20th century artist group that sought spirituality by connecting visual art with music. Since then, Ofili has gone on to create a number of large blue paintings. For this exhibition, nine of these works will be brought together for the first time in an architectural environment designed by the artist. Composed in dark hues of blue, this series of paintings evokes the blue light of twilight and the soulfulness of blues music. Although rooted in the landscape and culture of Trinidad, Ofili’s blue paintings extend beyond to offer a contemplative approach to history, identity, and ways of seeing the place and the landscape…
His most recent canvases have been animated by exotic characters, outlandish landscapes, and folkloric myths that resonate with references to the paintings of Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin. This exhibition will also include a selection of paintings from Ofili’s “Metamorphoses” series. These brightly colored canvases were inspired by the poem of the same name by Ovid and illustrate the ancient Roman author’s stories of gods and humans, including the tale of the goddess Diana and the hunter Actaeon. They were initially created at the invitation of the National Gallery of London in response to their own series of paintings of Diana and Actaeon by Titian from the mid-sixteenth century. Ofili’s paintings offer a unique interpretation of both the original text and its painted interpretations, opening up the ancient myths to new, contemporary readings. These works will be displayed in a dreamlike, painted environment inspired by British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1947, film “Black Narcissus”.
Info: ‘’Night and Day’’, Curating: Massimiliano Gioni, Gary Carrion-Murayari, Kraus and Margot Norton. New Museum, 235 Bowery, New York, Duratios: 29/10/14-1/2/15, Days & Hours: Wed & Fri-Sun: 11:00-18:00, The: 11:00-21:00, www.newmuseum.org
