Friday, September 18, 2009

Yinka Shonibare MBE

Alas, the lobster was too slow, the canary too distracted...they will miss one of the best shows in New York City this year, the Yinka Shonibare MBE exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum (closing this Sunday).

Shonibare is one of the most original, thought-provoking artists at work anywhere in the world today...and his productions, while they may be "conceptual," are gorgeous.

Deeply humanistic, delving into the ethics of exchange and communication, Shonibare critiques and glosses everything from The Tempest to Dorian Gray, Fragonard to Goya. But his tableaux are utterly and unmistakably his own-- he has a signature style as sure and powerful as that of Magritte or Schwitters.

My words are weak. Listen to his instead in this interview in BOMB.

Better yet, listen to him speak on film, surrounded by some of his best work (from the "Prospero's Monsters" show at the Jas. Cohan Gallery, NYC, last year).

What Shonibare does with fabric is magic, wrapped around ideas that leave an astringent tang in one's mind. I am really sorry to miss the Brooklyn show.

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