Yinka Shonibare first came to my attention when I was studying abroad in England and presenting a lecture on his work, and I was immediately smitten (smitten, ahem, being a very technical art historical term...) Shonibare was born in Nigeria, raised there and in England, and now resides primarily in London. His career retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, which I found out about a few weeks before moving here, was something I was looking forward to. And I was not disappointed! His works are often a comment on growing up in a former colony of England, and he cheekily uses the MBE title (which he received in 2005) as a testament to his complicated status as a Member of the Order of the British Empire. One of Shonibare's major themes is the usage of brightly colored wax-printed cloths, which people assume are produced in Africa, when in actuality they are printed in European cities. Shonibare takes these "African" cloths and fashions them into elaborate Victorian outfits, then uses them to clothe headless mannequins, as seen in How to Blow Up Two Heads At Once (ladies) (2006):
Shonibare also has a few series of works dealing with taking "Western" works of art (read: something in the established, white male approved, canon of art history) and twisting it a bit. One example I like is The Swing, After Fragonard (2001). (You can see Fragonard's painting here.)
(Sorry it's dark, I was obeying the no-flash rule.) My guess is that Shonibare likes that play of the unexpected with what is considered appropriate and established, such as his beheading of Fragonard's demure subject. In a similar vein is Diary of a Victorian Dandy (1998), which has Shonibare in the staring role as the dandy who is engaging in plenty of debauchery throughout his day--and it's also a play on William Hogarth's The Rakes Progress (1733). I don't have any good pictures of this, but look here if you're curious.
Another work I like a lot is The Scramble for Africa (2003) which depicts the European powers dividing up Africa in the 1880's. For a better image, see here.
One of the biggest surprises for me was Shonibare's video art, which I didn't know anything about; I particularly liked Odile and Odette (2005). For more on THAT (and a real review!) see here.
What is appealing to me about these works is that Shonibare doesn't take himself too seriously. He's dealing with some heavy subjects-- identity, sense of place, racism, power, the power of origin, and various cultural experiences, to name a few, but he's doing it in a way that is satirical and smart. As I walked around the exhibits, people were involved in the works and laughing and talking about them, which to me is never a bad thing.
Maybe Shonibare whacks the viewer over the head with his "post-colonial symbolism," or whatever you want to call it. Maybe he is as established and static as the cultural behaviors he is critiquing. Maybe I don't care. The variety in his paintings, photographs, sculptures, and videos is staggering, and I would encourage everyone to check out the Brooklyn Museum's website, or google him. Or better yet, come to the retrospective through September 20th! I enjoyed it. I think you might too.
3 comments:
okay, this is swell beyond belief. And I will put a link up on Cooking with Ideas.
Interesting review and pictures, I knew nothing about this artist. Hope you write more in future. The wannabe art historian's parents are happy to see this application of her education. We were beginning to think that "funemployment" is her main career goal...
hardy-har-har, moms. Just remember: it's your other daughter who has always wanted to be retired...I was the one who wrote an essay in middle school about how I wanted to teach and then grow my hair very long and open a bar.
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.