Chris Ofili, Visiting Artist Lecture 2011

Chris Ofili gives a lecture at Skowhegan where he plays music and talks about his artistic practice spanning painting, drawing, sculpture, installation. and working with the unconventional material of elephant dung. Throughout the lecture, Ofili reflects on the influence music has had on his practice, particularly hip hop from the 1990s to jazz by Alice Coltrane. Ofili’s practice touches upon many themes including religion, sex, death, violence, love vs hate, good vs evil, identity formation, and geographical spaces. Ofili also talks about his many experiences creating work for prestigious exhibitions including the Turner Prize and the Venice Biennale, the move he experiences of shifting his practice from London to Trinidad, and tells the participants of the importance experiencing failure can have to cultivate new growth as artists.