An exhibit of the work of Yinka Shonibare can be viewed at two online Metropolitan New York museums. The current exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, one we had seen at the Branly in Paris, is presented in a video.
."This exhibition is a major midcareer survey of work by the UK-[born] Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE. Shonibare’s artwork explores contemporary African identity and its relationship to European colonialism through painting, sculpture, installation, and moving image.
Shonibare is best known for his work with visual symbols, especially the richly patterned Dutch wax fabric produced in Europe for a West African market that he uses in a wide range of applications. His tableaux of headless mannequins costumed in this fabric evoke themes of history and its legacy for future generations. Through these works he explores the complex web of interactions, both economic and racial, that reveal inequalities between the dominant and colonized cultures of Europe, Asia, and Africa."Meanwhile, another Shonibare installation, Party Time: Re-imagine America, is in place at New Jersey's Newark Museum, situated across the Hudson River:
"In this opulent interior, the artist has staged an imagined scene of a late nineteenth century dinner party midway through a multi-course feast. Eight headless figures, dressed in period costume made from the artist's signature "Dutch wax" fabric, are seated around an elaborately set table as a servant appears bearing the main course, a peacock served on a silver platter. The animated body language of the guests suggests a moment in which proper Victorian etiquette has been cast away as an indulgent celebration of prosperity tips toward misbehavior and even debauchery. Referencing the discrepancy of wealth generated by turn-of-the-century enterprise, this scene of self-indulgence prompts comparison with our contemporary culture of greed and material excess.
The musée du quai Branly in Paris was the location of the Le Jardin d’Amour exhibit we visited in 2007.
A further examination of Shonibare's work can be viewed at a Google compilation of images: href="http://images.google.com/images?q=Yinka+Shonibare&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=MyJiSrbgK4josQP53YVn&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4">Google image compilation.
VLISCO Hollandaise is the location of a website selling fabric based on the original Dutch wax process. The firm originated in 1846 and considers itself 'the true original'.
