Page 34 - Powerlist 2019 - Digital Edition

Arts, Fashion & Design Yinka Shonibare

Artist

Yinka remains one of Britain’s leading artists and, as if to
underscore the point, this year he was one of only six artists,
including Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry, to be chosen out
of 80 to design a set of stamps for the Royal Mail to celebrate
the landmark 250th anniversary of the Royal Academy
of Arts. Yinka is a royal academician and his stamp was
entitled Queuing at the RA.
His textile sculpture, Wind Sculpture VI, formed a
centerpiece to the annual Royal Academy Summer
Exhibition in 2017. Towering six metres tall in the courtyard
of the historic gallery, Yinka’s textile sculpture marked
a return to his use of Dutch wax textiles, and the three-
dimensional piece of fabric appeared to blow in the breeze.
Summer Show co-ordinator Eleanor Cooper said it explored
“the notion of harnessing motion and freezing it in a
moment of time”.
In March 2017, his powerful pro-immigration British
Library exhibition at New York’s James Cohan gallery saw
no fewer than 6,000 books bound in the Nigerian-British
artist’s trademark printed batik cotton lining the walls. Each
book had the name of an immigrant to the UK printed on its
Chris Ofili spine, in celebration of their contributions to British culture.
The work was showcased last year at Margate’s Turner
Artist Contemporary gallery.
Yinka’s physical disability continues to increase with age
Chris is one of the original Young British Artists and 20 years – as a teenager he contracted an inflammation of the spinal
later Turner Prize-winner Chris Ofili remains one of the cord, paralysing one side of his body – and he now uses
world’s foremost creatives. an electric wheelchair. He uses assistants to help make his
He came to prominence in the 1990s, going on to win the iconic works under direction.
top British arts award in 1998. In June 2015, his controversial Yinka has exhibited at the Venice Biennial and leading
painting The Holy Virgin Mary, which depicts a black Virgin museums worldwide.
Mary surrounded by photos of female genitalia cut out from In 2003, he was awarded an MBE. In 2004, he was
pornographic magazines and decorated with elephant dung, shortlisted for the Turner Prize.
was sold by art collector David Walsh for £2.9million at
Christie’s. It was an auction record for the Trinidad-based
British artist.
The painting caused a furore when it was exhibited in
New York 16 years ago. Then-Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, called it
“sick” and wanted it banned.
In April 2015, Chris was named one of Time magazine’s
100 most influential people in the world. He was the only
visual artist on the list. In April 2017, he received a CBE for
his services to art, saying the honour was special because of
his parents’ decision to move to England from Nigeria more
than 40 years ago.
In 2017, Chris unveiled his first ever tapestry work at the
National Gallery – a spectacular and monumental piece,
The Caged Bird’s Song, fusing classical mythology with
the vibrancy of the Trinidadian landscape and referencing
contemporary black culture. The work hung in the iconic
central London gallery for several weeks before taking up
permanent residence at the Clothworkers’ Company, which
commissioned it. The artwork took five weavers three years
to complete in an Edinburgh weaving studio and has been
credited with breathing new life into a faltering craft.
In the same year, Chris also unveiled his inaugural show
for Victoria Miro’s new Venice gallery – the first artist to
show at the permanent space. His Poolside Magic series of
vivid watercolour, pastel and charcoal works on paper were
acclaimed as “resoundingly beautiful”.

30 Powerlist 2019