Since my days as an apron tugging, food slinging tiny tot, I admit to having somewhat of a slight fascination with excrement, or, dare I say it, poo! * So, when I heard about 1998 Turner prize winner, Chris Olfili current exhibition at the Tate Britain, I was more than a little intrigued and could not let the opportunity to see elephant dung, slung against oils, pass me by.
Olfili, who has been on the British art scene since the early nineties, is best known for his layering technique; employing the use of various mediums,( paper clippings, glitter and, apparently, elephant dung) to create his pieces. More recently however,(since having moved to Trinidad in 2005) his works represent a current fascination with traditional Trinidad mythology.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed Olfili's Exhibition - with its explosive palette and vibrant brush technique (reminiscent of modern aboriginal art pioneer Emily Kame Kngwarreye). The dung, however, did not complete the painting; yes, it created a buzz and prompted mixed reactions from gallery punters, but to me the paintings would have been a stand- alone success, without the chewed up spat out vegetable matter.....but then there is the issue of where to place 300kilograms of redundant excrement!*
The Chris Olfili exhibition runs until 16 May at the Tate Britain
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
*Foot note - My sister, who also shares a healthy attitude towards BMs, wrote a multi - award winning short-film titled Boomerang, about a particularly smelly turd that just didn't want to go away!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D449Pt5p-lY&feature=related.
*Foot note2: The average daily waste from an elephant in the wild is close to 300kilograms!
Photocredit:http://commons.wikimedia.org
Posts
In case you were wondering, there was no smellovision!
ReplyDelete