It was one of the works included in the Sensation exhibition in London, Berlin and New York in — The subject of the work, and its execution, caused considerable controversy in New York, with Rudolph Giuliani — then Mayor of New York City — describing Ofili's work as "sick". On a yellow-orange background, the large painting 8 feet high and 6 feet wide depicts a black woman wearing a blue robe, a traditional attribute of the Virgin Mary. The work employs mixed media , including oil paint , glitter , and polyester resin , and also elephant dung, map pins and collaged pornographic images.
The Holy Virgin Mary
The Holy Virgin Mary - Censorpedia
It was one of the works included in the Sensation exhibition in London, Berlin and New York in — The subject of the work, and its execution, caused considerable controversy in New York, with Rudolph Giuliani — then Mayor of New York City — describing Ofili's work as "sick". The work employs mixed media , including oil paint , glitter , and polyester resin , and also elephant dung and collaged pornographic images. The central Black Madonna is surrounded by many collaged images that resemble butterflies at first sight, but on closer inspection are photographs of female genitalia; an ironic reference to the putti that appear in traditional religious art. A lump of dried, varnished elephant dung forms one bared breast, and the painting is displayed leaning against the gallery wall, supported by two other lumps of elephant dung, decorated with coloured pins: the pins on the left are arranged to spell out "Virgin" and the one on the right "Mary". Many other works by Ofili in this period — including No Woman No Cry — incorporate elephant dung, particularly as supports for the canvas, inspired by a period that Ofili spent in Zimbabwe.



La santa virgen maría
The first Black British artist to receive the prestigious Turner Prize, Chris Ofili is best known for his multi-layered paintings, made by a variety of unconventional materials, like map pins or elephant dung. He was also one of the Young British Artists YBAs , a label applied to a group of artists from Britain who began exhibiting together in the late s. Ofili participated in Brilliant!
Christopher Ofili , CBE born 10 October is a British Turner Prize -winning painter who is best known for his paintings incorporating elephant dung. He was one of the Young British Artists. Since , Ofili has been living and working in Trinidad and Tobago , where he currently resides in Port of Spain. He also lives and works in London and Brooklyn. Ofili has utilized resin, beads, oil paint, glitter, lumps of elephant dung, cut-outs from porn magazines as painting elements.
Show Morelooks like the dude from whose line is it anyway...
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