The Death of Colonialism
by Krishna Andavolu
FEBRUARY 23, 2012 TAGS:
The Death of Marat, the Death of Socrates, the Death of Nelson at Trafalgar, artistic representations of the endings of some of Europe's great men crowd the history of western painting. It's this tradition of deathbed art that forms the clear subtext to Nigerian-British artist Yinka Shonibare MBE's new body of work, Fake Death Pictures, on view at the James Cohan Gallery in New York until March 24th.
His subjects are no less famous, The Death of St. Francis, The Death of Chatterton and The Death of Leonardo da Vinci. But in lieu of these men, Shonibare, (who was awarded the title of Member Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 and bares that title, MBE, at the end of his name) places a figure that is clothed in African Wax Block fabrics cut into 18th century garb of a well-to-do European. His powdered hair and sheet-white face clash against the color of his clothes.
It's a compelling visual trick, as slick as it is pregnant with ideas. Is this figure, bandied about Zelig-like, a representation of western colonial man, wrapped in the visual vibrancy of the vanquished cultures he conquered? Is he (colonialism) now dead too? African Wax Block fabrics, while most readily associated with African cultures, is in fact made mostly in the Netherlands, adding further wrinkles to any clear polemic.
The thematic outlay strikes a similar chord as the American artist Kehinde Wiley's paintings, which place contemporary black men in some of the western canon's most iconic historical portraiture, like Napoleon Crossing the Alps.
But of course the idea of death, erasure and ultimately legacy is what resonates strongest in Shonibare's work. Colonialism, one clearly deduces, is the grand subject. But what statement Shonibare makes is less-than-clear. These are beautiful photographs that visually communicate the complicated, intricate and turgud legacy of colonialism.
His subjects are no less famous, The Death of St. Francis, The Death of Chatterton and The Death of Leonardo da Vinci. But in lieu of these men, Shonibare, (who was awarded the title of Member Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 and bares that title, MBE, at the end of his name) places a figure that is clothed in African Wax Block fabrics cut into 18th century garb of a well-to-do European. His powdered hair and sheet-white face clash against the color of his clothes.It's a compelling visual trick, as slick as it is pregnant with ideas. Is this figure, bandied about Zelig-like, a representation of western colonial man, wrapped in the visual vibrancy of the vanquished cultures he conquered? Is he (colonialism) now dead too? African Wax Block fabrics, while most readily associated with African cultures, is in fact made mostly in the Netherlands, adding further wrinkles to any clear polemic.
The thematic outlay strikes a similar chord as the American artist Kehinde Wiley's paintings, which place contemporary black men in some of the western canon's most iconic historical portraiture, like Napoleon Crossing the Alps.
But of course the idea of death, erasure and ultimately legacy is what resonates strongest in Shonibare's work. Colonialism, one clearly deduces, is the grand subject. But what statement Shonibare makes is less-than-clear. These are beautiful photographs that visually communicate the complicated, intricate and turgud legacy of colonialism.
RELATED CONTENT
Latest News Delivered to Your Inbox - Sign up with our site and you will get the latest news about people and subjects that interest you.
