Friday, May 27, 2011

Yinka Shonibare Profile & Mini Essay by: Simi

(Simi) Manraj Rana :)
May 11, 2011
Professor: Lintz


       As I sit in the quite room of the library, I start to wonder about my last English paper. Trying to decide which living artist to choose from, nothing struck me. I was completely lost. There were so many interesting people with great art work. So I decided to leave it on to my professor to choose an artist for me. Yinka Shonibare I saw in an email as my research artist. At first I taught it was a women but later when I goggled it, it turned out to be a man. Art for me is mostly the lively, energetic, and fun filled pieces put together, and Shonibare did that with his unique skills. It interested me to keep looking at his images and inspired me to learn more about what his art is all about.

 Yinka Shonibare is a Nigerian artist who was born in London in 1962 and grew up in the UK and Nigeria. In the 1980s he studied in London at the Byam Shaw School of Art and graduated as part of the “Young British Artists” generation from Goldsmiths College in 1991. (Art News) He currently lives and works in the East End of London.  At the age of 19 he became seriously ill with a rare viral infection which attacked his spine and left him temporarily paralyzed. (New York Times) Shonibare was a Turner prize nominee in 2004 and awarded the decoration of Member of the “Most Excellent Order of the British Empire”. Where he added the MBE title to his name.  (Yinka Shonibare)

Since the 1990s Shonibare has exhibited internationally. His work has featured in numerous solo and group shows, including Sydney, New York, Washington D.C. London, Paris, Tokyo and many others. Shonibare is also represented by two galleries in New York (Shonibare blogspot). A retrospective of Yinka Shonibare’s work has just been shown at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, followed by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, and his  project will be inaugurated in Trafalgar Square on May 24, 2010 (Gallery) .
Shonibare is best known for making headless mannequins like “How to Blow up Two Heads at Once” He uses his famous colorful Dutch wax fabrics which is known as “African batik fabric”(shonibare blogspot). The wax fabrics was designed in the Dutch Colony and later ended up as an export to Africa as a fashion icon (Times). He incorporates the fabric into Victorian dresses, by covering sculptures of or stretching it onto canvases. Shonibare uses the fabric as a metaphor to address issues of origin and authenticity.

People from all over respect Shonibare art work. Many refer to his master pieces as   the so-called “African Dandy” where all he expresses is sensuality, energy, humor, instinct, sophistication, mystery, and joy, under a profound influence of his native country (New York Times). A reviewer of the Brooklyn Meausum said” His work is to surprise and inspire, to leave speechless, or to prompt, to comprise while at the same time enlighten the audience ". He produces a seductive work in which there is issues of taste involved, and issues of class (Telegraph).
   
 "I have always viewed art as a form of opera, or as being operatic," Shonibare explained in 2004. "And opera is excessive; it is beyond the real, and therefore hyper-real." (YinkaShonibare). Since his work involves around his upbringings Shonibare says his piece will reflect the story of multiculturalism in London. A celebration of immense ethnic wealth, giving expression to and honoring the many cultures and ethnicities.

Shonibare art work has a strongly contemporary feel, but at the same time they engage with the traditions and masterworks of western art history. He uses his creativity to make people explore the different aspects of different cultures. The headless mannequins like” How to Blow up Two Heads at Once.” To me it shows a sense of power. It evokes emotion of bravery and standing up for the rights of women. It shows a soft famine side of the headless women through their long Victorian gowns. The results turn out to be very poetic and playful. Shonibare's work takes us on a tour of colonization, to space exploration and to modern art.  Much of Shonibare's work is about transforming the familiar western history into new contexts by adding humor and unhidden meaning. At first the headless sculptures really caught my eye but when I went in dept with his art work I was truly amazed with the different story backgrounds Shonibare plays with. It gave me a sense of interest and amazement.

(Mini Essay) Shonibare’s art. 

       According to Leo Tolstoy, “In order to correctly define art, it is necessary to first of all, to cease to consider it as a means to pleasure and to consider it as one of the conditions of human life.” While according to Robert J. Belton “Art defines itself throughout the human agency of manual skills, Intellectual manipulation, or public or person expression which is the art of conversation. I believe Yinka Shonibare’s artwork fulfills both Tolstoy and Belton requirement of art.

 His art work provokes emotion of bravery, shows hidden meaning of cultural background and creates a sense of empowerment throughout his sculptures.  It gives us as the audience something to talk about and conversant of what really is going on in his headless mannequins. One of Shonibare’s famous works is “how to blow up two heads at once.” Shonibare’s dazzling use of Dutch wax fabric on headless mannequins provokes powerful statements about identity and race in the modern world. At first when I look at his artwork, I was confused. I didn’t understand the meaning of his headless mannequins, but when I started looking at his other artwork it struck to me that everything was dealing with the history of imperialism. It slowly started to make sense.

Shonibare second idea of his artwork is his Victorian sculptures. Shonibare says, “So Victorian for me actually means conquest and imperialism, and so, in a sense, it is actually my fear. So what I then decided to do was actually con front my fear and faces my fear.” (Shonibare). A lot of Shonibare work came out of his desire to face his fear and turn it into parody. His art mainly basically explores issues around identity and it’s about his bi-cultural background in a way. His artwork is very descriptive and fun to look at. The different textures of the Dutch fabrics creates a very adventurous piece overall. I would definitely want to visit Shonibare’s exhibit in the future.


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