This week I had the opportunity to attend a blogger’s event arranged by the lovely Emma Bearman (www.theculturevulture.co.uk/blog) at Yorkshire Sculpture Park to preview the new exhibition for Yinka Shonibare MBE. I didn’t think I was familiar with his work until I did some research and saw that he had previously had a piece of work displayed on the 4th plinth at Trafalgar Square, a piece that I had seen and photographed on many occasions.
We were greeted at the park by YSP deputy curator Sarah Coulson, who led us through the exhibition, explaining more about each piece and the inspiration behind it as well as a brief biography of the artist himself, Yinka Shonibare.
Yinka was born in London in 1962 to Nigerian parents. He returned to Lagos aged three and remained there until his teens when he returned to London to study art. In his work, Yinka often challenges the misconceptions that people have whether it is about a certain place or period in history.
The exhibition is set out over several rooms in the underground gallery with a couple of pieces also outside, although at the time of our visit it was a little too dark to see and appreciate these works. The pieces within the gallery though were very colourful and eye catching and engaged you immediately so that you wanted to study them in more detail.
What I liked about the exhibition and Yinka’s work is that it can be enjoyed on many levels and by people of all ages. Firstly, with every piece, you instantly notice the use of colour and bold prints on the fabric which are quite beautiful. However as you study each piece in more detail you are drawn into it and become aware of the other themes that are being explored. In many instances there seemed to be a reference to childhood, whether it was the size of the sculptures or the children’s toys used as part of them. These prompted me to think of how children often have more simplistic and fantastical views of things and yet are also blatantly honest in what they see - something which as adults we often fail to see.
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| Black Gold - photo from www.yinkashonibarembe.co.uk |
I had many favourite pieces amongst the collection including: New York Toy Painting, consisting of many painted globes each adorned with figurines representing something traditionally associated with America or New York; Black – Gold a large piece of artwork adorning one wall which looks like a splash of oil with several smaller circles inside. It tells how Nigeria has been one of the main oil producers since the 1980’s with 80% of its exports being in oil yielding high values to government revenue. But Nigeria is also a place rife with corruption and the production of oil also raises many environmental issues. Despite all the wealth produced from the export of this oil, it is of little benefit to the Nigerian people; Alien Family, fabric sculptures that were bright, colourful and rather cute to look at but riding on flying machines that looked like they were designed by Leonardo da Vinci rather than the hi-tech spaceships you would expect.
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| Dysfunctional Family - photo from www.yinkashonibarembe.co.uk |
I also enjoyed the room that seemed entirely devoted to Lord Nelson – from the brightly coloured cannon made as replica from HMS Victory to the paintings copied from old masters and imposed with a dying Nelson and other characters such as women and people from different nationalities that you might not have expected to see around the time of Nelson. However, if you study Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square you will see at the bottom of the plinth 4 carvings from scenes on HMS Victory. One of them portrays how they were 19 different nationalities on board with Nelson, so what might have seemed artistic licence by many was actually correct.
My favourite piece though was the ballerina on a cloud. Like many of Yinka’s sculptures, the ballerina is headless and the skin tone used makes it impossible to identify a nationality. What immediately stood out for me was how beautiful and graceful the ballerina was, posed whilst dancing en Pointe with her arms stretched out either side of her. The attention to the detail of her leg and arm muscles was incredibly lifelike and the colours of her tutu and shoes all added to the aesthetics of the piece. Whilst you are busy admiring all of this, you perhaps don’t notice that the cloud she is dancing on is actually a black mushroom cloud. What Yinka alludes to here is that the ballerina is representative of the higher echelons of society who are so removed from reality that they are stood on a cloud and unaware of what is going on around them.
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| Flower Cloud - photo from www.yinkashonibarembe.com |
Of the exhibitions I have been to, I found this to be one of the most enjoyable, not just because each piece was so visually captivating but because you are drawn in to study in greater detail and get to appreciate the thoughts and themes behind each work. Each piece challenges your initial perceptions leaving you with much to ponder over and talk about afterwards. I would thoroughly recommend a visit to this exhibition.
Thanks to Emma Bearman from www.theculturevulture.co.uk for organising the event and to Sarah Coulson for a fascinating insight into Yinka's work.
For more information on the artist http://www.yinkashonibarembe.com/
For information on Yorkshire Sculpture Park http://www.ysp.co.uk/
To read more about cultural events in the Yorkshire area http://www.theculturevulture.co.uk/blog
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