Chris Ofili

 With references as diverse as traditional African art, images from popular culture, and hip-hop music, Chris Ofili’s paintings explore contemporary black urban experience. Ofili’s intricately layered works combine bead-like dots of paint, inspired in part by cave paintings in Zimbabwe, with collaged images from popular magazines and such materials as glitter and map pins. Since 1992 the artist has also included dried elephant dung acquired from the London Zoo among his materials. While alluding generally to his African heritage, Ofili deliberately misquotes the traditional ritual significance of dung in order to broaden the viewer’s interpretation of this material beyond its cultural meaning. Combined with his parodies of 1970s black exploitation movies, comic book super heroes, and "gangsta" rap music, Ofili’s work addresses a complex matrix of issues that challenge black stereotypes.