Fogle Fine Art & Consulting

The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) recently profiled one of my **new** favorite international artists by the name of Yinka Shonibare who is currently showing 21 pieces of his work at the National Museum of African Art, in addition to showing on over 2 floors of The Smithsonian.

 

Shonibare was born in London to Nigerian parents. He was raised in Africa before returning to London to study at the Byam Shaw School for Art where he dabbled in a myriad of mediums exploring class and racial issues through sculpture, photography, and painting. He rose to stardom with his most well-know works which depict headless mannequins dressed in beautiful Dutch wax clothing engaged in various forms of daily living. He also produces films and photographs of famous British literary works and casts himself as the central, black character, which has drawn critiques and praise. I find it comical! On a side note, I love the colorful, explosive Dutch Wax fabrics which are the traditional fabrics people of and in Africa wear, but are actually produced in The Netherlands and based on Indonesian batik patterns. I think these beautiful fabrics are truly art in themselves, and was quite surprised to learn that what we Westerners and (possibly) Europeans believe is traditional African fashion, is actually produced in Europe…mostly by a humble company in a small town in Holland, which highly guards it’s production method of producing only the finest batik cloth available. Having lived in The Netherlands and recently spent time in Indonesia browsing batik cloth, myself, I am utterly fascinated with this. But I digress…

 

So, Shonibare considers himself bicultural, having had strong upbringing in Europe and Africa and his work is like one man’s struggle to discover his roots in some ways. You’ll see references to African colonialism and European Aristocracy which is fascinating to me as an art history major having studied the arts in these various periods.  He’s partially paralyzed due to a rare viral infection from his past, so counts on students and his understudies to stage his life-sized works that are what you would see at his shows. He’s won awards and continues to produce works to this day, at the age of 47. Today’s entry is not so much a call for commentary about Shinobare’s work, but is rather an invitation to learn about this artist, if you’re not already familiar. He’s a cool, contemporary cat, and I love his work!