Chris Offili


It is strange to look at the body of work at the Arts Club and think that it was the same artist who incited the Mayor of New York City to try and force-ably take down a work of art from a gallery, though, it was an election year as it was pointed out in one of the hand outs, so I’m sure that had something to do with it. The paintings and drawings seem playful, even those of the slightly pornographic women with their mild stereotypes, the hair, the nails and so on are not offensive. They are pretty and light. By looking through them you get a sense of culture and a sense a people. The portraits made up of tiny afro-ed heads hint back to the traditional portraits of the European nobility as well as the placement of the water color images, all hung in rows, in matching frames and with matching compositions.

After seeing the Chris Offili show I went to the Luc Tuymens retrospective at the MCA. The similarities between these tow artists are interesting to note. Both complete the images with in one sitting. They both look back to the culture in which the artist is living and both deal with a certain color palette. Though that would be where the similarities stop, for these are two very different artists. Tuymens work is in drab, desaturated and unsettling colors, while Offili is bright, rich and dense. The work its self can be seen as in much the same light as the color palettes, though I would not call Tuymens work drab, but it is as unsettling as Offili’s is bright and humorous. It seems more like a comparison of the two cultures, Belgium and Trinidad, than of the two artists.

Offili takes what is personal to him and is able to form it into something that is accessible to the audience at whole as well as giving insight into himself. I find that the balance he has struck is one of great precision and it is functioning very well. This is something that I am looking for in my own work. The correct balance between the personal and the universal in the message. When is to much of the artist in the work as well as when is there not enough of the artist in the work? You can feel Offili in the works but they are not necessarily about him, he is just the missing piece that transforms the work.