Chris Ofili

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.

Chris Ofili was born in 1968 in Manchester, England, and presently lives in Trinidad. Past solo exhibitions include Afro Muses, the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (2005); Within Reach, British Pavilion, 50th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2003), and Devil’s Pie at David Zwirner, New York (2007). David Adjaye is a British architect with an international reputation. Carol Becker is Dean of the School of Arts and Professor of the Arts at Columbia University. Okwui Enwezor is Dean of Academic Affairs at the San Francisco Art Institute. Thelma Golden is Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Peter Doig and Kara Walker are internationally renowned contemporary artists who have had numerous solo and group exhibitions.