Chris Ofili (b. 1968) is renowned for his vibrant, multi-layered works that celebrate Afrocentrism through both figurative and abstract approaches. He came to prominence in the 1990s as both a YBA (Young British Artist) and the scandal surrounding his painting "The Holy Virgin Mary" exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum in 1999.
Ofili’s work combines painterly and cultural elements to play on ideas of beauty while carrying messages about black culture, history, and exoticism. His art draws on a range of sources—including jazz and hip-hop music, the Bible, and the works of artist and poet William Blake—and can be understood physically as well as metaphorically.
"Afro Harlem Muses" is a striking diptych, depicting two royal figures. Ofili's subjects are a characteristic fusion of portraiture, stylization, and fantasy. In Ofili’s visual universe, these subjects emerge from a rich interplay of Afrofuturism, memory, and art-historical references.
Produced in 2005, this work comes at the end of the artist's larger "Afro Muses" series, for which he created 181 small-scale watercolors over a decade. Throughout the series, Ofili creates fantasy portraits, as he interrogates mainstream definitions of beauty, and images of the African body, within the canon of both pop culture and art history.
Ofili was the recipient of the Turner Prize in 1998. His work is celebrated in public collections across the globe including the Tate (London), Studio Museum Harlem (New York), and the San Fransisco Museum of Art.
Questions about this piece? Contact us, call +1.416.704.1720, or visit our Toronto Gallery.
"Afro Harlem Muses"
London, 2005
Lithograph with embossing on Somerset paper
Titled and numbered "PP 1/4" in pencil, lower right
Signed and dated in pencil, lower left
Published by David Zwirner, New York
Printed by Derriere L'Etoile Studios, New York
21"H 27.5"W (sheet)
24.5"H 30.5"W (framed)
Note: newly framed with museum glass. Framed images coming soon.
Very good condition
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