Present

Revolution Kid (Fox)

Mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, fibreglass, leather, taxidermy fox head, blackberry and 24 carat gold gilded gun 119 x 66 x 120cm, (46 7/8 x 26 x 47 1/4in)

Yinka Shonibare, MBE: FABRIC–ATION at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

 2 March – 1 September 2013  | Underground Gallery, Chapel, YSP Centre and open air

 In March 2013 YSP presents the UK’s most extensive exhibition to date by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, MBE. FABRIC-ATION features over 30 works made between 2002 and 2013, including sculpture, film, photography and painting, many of which are shown in the UK for the first time. They include flying machines, aliens, toy paintings, food fairies,  revolutionary children, spacemen and ballerinas.

  The exhibition marks the premier of a new series of large sculptures for the public realm – two Wind Sculptures, which will be sited in the Park’s 18th century-designed landscape. Each measuring over six metres in height and richly painted with Shonibare’s signature batik fabric pattern, they will appear like large, glorious handkerchiefs caught by the wind.  

Addressing issues pertinent to today’s society in Shonibare’s practice – the complexities of contemporary identity, dislocation, multiculturalism, global food production, corporate power and revolution – the exhibition traces how Shonibare has framed these concerns within a historical context, investigating the shaping role of the British Empire and the colonial past. The exhibition is accompanied by a major YSP publication, including texts by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Dr Rebecca Schneider, and Jean Fisher.

This exhibition has been supported by Guaranty Trust Bank

Image credit :

REVOLUTION KID (FOX)

Mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, fibreglass, leather, taxidermy calf head, blackberry and 24 carat gold gilded gun.

119 x 66 x 120cm

Collection museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, The Netherlands

This major exhibition is sponsored by Guaranty Trust Bank.

www.gtbank.com

Globe Head Ballerina

2012 Yinka Shonibare MBE

Yinka Shonibare Globe Head Ballerina

Yinka Shonibare's Globe Head Ballerina modelled on The Royal Ballet's Melissa Hamilton.

A unique artwork by Yinka Shonibare, Globe Head Ballerina is the latest public sculpture by the artist. This piece is a life size work based on a photograph of ballerina Margot Fonteyn. Typical of Shonibare’s previous work, the costume is made of African Dutch wax fabric and the dancer has a Victorian-style globe as her head. Encased within a large snow globe style sphere the ballerina rotates on Pointe.

Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, Fibreglass, steel, brass, resin, UV ink on printed cotton textile, linen rigging, acrylic and wood

Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle

at National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare MBE is a 1:30 replica of Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, on which he died during the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. It has 80 cannon and 37 sails set as on the day of battle. The richly patterned sails were inspired by Indonesian batik, mass-produced by Dutch traders and sold in West Africa. Today these designs are associated with African dress and identity. The characteristic bright colours and abstract symmetries of Dutch Wax fabric have accrued many complex, often ambivalent associations – with colonialism, industrialisation, emigration, cultural appropriation, and the invention (and reinvention) of tradition – all of which are foregrounded in Shonibare’s work. Used for the rigging of Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, the legacy of Dutch Wax assumes a further, distinctly maritime significance. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2004, the same year in which he was awarded an MBE (an appellation that he uses when exhibiting and signing works).

Currently on permanent display at National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

To look at previous exhibitions see Press