Chris Ofili at the Tate
Feeling melancholic about my birthday, I managed to get to see the Chris Ofili exhibition at Tate Britain. I’ve been meaning see it all month. I’ve seen some of the work before but was quite amazed how much detail I had missed before. I’m always fascinated by artist’s pencil marks and particularly like any textures created by pencil. In the first few rooms there are the paintings that made Ofili famous: Captain Shit, No Woman No Cry, The Holy Virgin Mary, the elephant dung, the collages of vaginas and heads, glitter and resins but I hadn’t noticed the intricate texture behind all the noise. The colours and the patterns are so delicate.
There were many insights into just how frighteningly intelligent Ofili must be and all of them related to the meticulous nature of the detail in his work. The afro pencil drawings and the sets of watercolours were a pleasant surprise. The pencil looked more like ink, I like the sort of mind that would sit and draw all those afro heads.
The last few rooms represent the work that Ofili has done since he moved to Trinidad; much loser, larger and freer. The subject matter has changed too, more spiritual and referential to his new environment. I particularly liked the darker paintings; the blue riders, iscariot blues, the healer and the very last painting in the room Ritual and Resistance. I watched the film about Ofili afterwards in the outer chamber,. What struck me the most is that Ofili has a very strong self-identity and as his work has developed he has become more comfortable with himself. a lesson to be learned and also I came out thinking more about how I would prepare my canvases in future.
