I took my first EVER trip to the Walker Art Center in Mpls with my Orientation to Art and Design class last week. As a Minnesotan, and an art enthusiast, the fact that this was my first and only Walker experience is shameful… Anyway, a group of my classmates and I were taken on a brief tour of a very limited amount of the Walker’s art collection. Although Chris Ofili’s Third Eye Vision was not a stop on our tour, it did not fail to catch my attention. This is probably because Ofili’s VERY colorful and VERY intricate visual style is recognizable almost immediately. I was excited to get the chance to see this piece as it has been my favorite Ofili for quite some time. Third Eye Vision is a fairly new piece of art – created in 1999. This giant kaleidoscope that was once a canvas demands attention. Ofili is prone to creating work that is very meaningful, political, and culturally driven. I feel that Ofili creates an aesthetic as bold and complicated as the meaning behind his work. This Ofili work in specific focuses on culture and heritage, pulling iconography from many around the globe. The third eye placed in the center of the work (comprised of elegantly decorated elephant dung, might I add) pulls from Asian iconography. The third eye is also common to African cultures, including Ofili’s own Nigerian heritage. As far as spiritual symbolism, the third eye has sort of assumed an international stance. I believe that the elephant dung pulls from culture and heritage as well. I know that Ofili often uses elephant dung and it has before in his works been used as a statement or as reference to nature, culture, and heritage. Hidden very discretely within the composition are magazine cut-outs of popular entertainers from the current day. Or at least current to the time in which this piece was made, 1999. I feel as if Ofili chose to incorporate the cut-outs of faces who are immediately linked to popular culture as a mockery of what culture is compared to what it was or should be. Pairing something like the face of a celebrity and a historically spiritually iconographic symbol such as the third eye in itself is sort of a mockery of culture.
Chris Ofili, self proclaimed “hip-hop artist”, created a visually dynamic piece with Third Eye Vision. Using a range of artistic techniques such as pointillism and collage, Ofili created a piece that revolves around culture and heritage.
Photo source: http://www.artsconnected.org/resource/87199/1/third-eye-vision
I am glad you enjoyed the trip to the Walker - hopefully the first visit will not be the last!
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice, concise description and interesting interpretation of Ofili's piece. I feel like it could be strengthened somewhat by a little more research into what Ofili thinks the items symbolise or what other critics have had to say. It is worth noting, for example, that some people (notably Rudy Giuliani) have been offended by the use of dung in Ofili's work, and not seen the cultural references and valid or interesting.