this exhibition begins with a selection of the exuberant paintings ofili produced in the 1990's. these richly layered paintings pulsate with colour and energy of ofilis intricate brushwork, to which he adds glitter, resin, map pins, and collaged magazine cut outs. he also has hes own personal idea of applying elephant dung balls to the canvas or using them the prop the paintings off the floor.
Oflil says 'using the dung balls is a way of raising the paintings up from the ground and giving them a feeling that they've come from the earth rather than simply being hung on a wall.'
It was only once i had read this quote that i under stud why he used the dung because at first i through he was being offensive towards African Americans. people questions weather there is a substantial amount of racism and stereotyping withing hes painting but what i feel is that he is doing it in the 21st century where i feel he is representing black male identity.n the 20Th century black males where empower by other races but the modern intake of black males has had a bigger impact on today's society then ever. Hip Hop in particular was a defining cultural force for his generation, and he applied the same attitude to his paintings. with paintings like pimpin' aint easy 1997 showing male dominance, and 'Two doo voodoo 1997' Which was a collages tree of famous black males mainly rap artist who rap about, sex, drugs and violence.
ROOM 3 THE UPPER ROOM
I really found the exhibition interesting it made your mind question his paintings whilst walking around. i had never seen anyone create painting with dung in the way he did. room 3 was my favourite. ofili had a number of meditative paintings based on an Andy Warhol collage
of a monkey holding a chalice. it had a lot of symbolism connected to alots of religions from Christan symbolism of the last supper fuses with other faiths such as Hindu monkey god Hanuman. I like how it invites multiple interpretation to a collection of paintings.
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