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Visit Chris Ofili's Exhibition at Tate Britain: ‘Hip Hop spirit in Art’
Hip Hop never looked so good as Chris Ofili who is without a doubt one of the UK’s most famous homegrown black artists. Having won the Turner Prize in 1998 aged 30, having been inspired by growing up in Manchester in the 1980’s, religious viewpoints and his love of Hip Hop Culture.
You can catch his work at the Tate Britain now - including his famous 'No Woman No Cry' painting - the piece he created in the aftermath of the Stephen Lawrence murder. The exhibition will bring together approximately 45 paintings from the mid 1990s onwards, and shows the use of Hip Hop titles/artists in his works and exhibitions. e.g. 'Devils Pie' by D’angelo, 'The Healer' by Erykah Badu and 'Pimpin aint Easy' by Big Daddy Kane.
In a recent interview by Ekow Eshun from the Chris Ofili exhibition catalogue, Ofili talked about his influences thus “I was drawn to (William) Blake’s image first as a watercolour…At the same time I was interested in how Snoop Dogg could sing quite vulgar lyrics with a sweet, smooth West Coast voice, in the coming together of the rough and the smooth. I was curious about trying to make older ideas contemporary and new, and somehow have a relationship to hip-hop culture.” I'm sure you'll agree both an interesting and intriguing exhibition in the making.
If you take our advise and visit the exhibition, you'll be quids in if you're under 26 as entry will only cost you a fiver! Tate Britain has created a special youth ticket: anyone under the age of 26 can enter the exhibition for £5 – usual price is £10 full price and £8.50 for concessions. Just bring along some ID to get this special offer.
As we do like a list here, we'd just like to round off with an interesting list of Hip Hop artists that influenced the artist and his work (not in order of preference):
Notorious BIG – 10 crack commandments
Common – Heaven somewhere
Method Mad – Bring the pain
Public Enemy – Public Enemy number 1
Erykah Badu – The Healer
Snoop Dogg – Gin & Juice
Wu Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M
Jay-Z - Blueprint
A Tribe called Quest – The low end theory
The Roots – Clones
NAS – Illamtic
Mos Def - Black on both sides
Talib Kweli – Reflection eternal
Dizzee Rascal - Jezebel
EXHIBITION & USEFUL INFO:
CHRIS OFILI EXHIBITION
Dates: 27 January – 16 May 2010
Ticket Price: Over 26 yrs £10 full price and £8.50 for concessions/ Under 26 yrs £5 (with I-D)
Opening Times: 10.00 to 17.55 and 22.00 the first Friday of every month
Nearest Tube: Pimlico
Address:
Tate Britain,
Level 2 Galleries,
Millbank,
SW1P 4RG
Words B&S
