Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents Yinka Shonibare MBE: FABRIC-ATION an exhibition on view 02.03.13 – 01.09.13.
Yinka Shonibare MBE, Alien Man on Flying Machine, 2011. Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney
Taking place in three of YSP’s indoor galleries and the open air, FABRIC–ATION features over 30 vibrant works from the period 2002 – 2013 including sculpture, film, photography, painting and collage, with many works never before seen in the UK.
Born in London in 1962, Shonibare moved to Nigeria when he was three, later returning to the UK to study art. His work shrewdly explores and confounds stereotypes of race and class, engaging with ideas around identity and authenticity as well as dislocation, multiculturalism, global food production and revolution, often addressed through playful conceits. This approach is part of his determination to avoid being categorised: Shonibare accepted an MBE in 2004, adopting the title into his working name, saying, “it was the last thing you would have expected of me”.
FABRIC–ATION is a unique opportunity for audiences to trace Shonibare’s creative development over the past decade at a time when he is increasingly active in creating work for public space. Two major commissions, the first works in a new series for the UK, premiere in the Park’s Arcadian landscape. Standing over six metres tall, Wind Sculptures (2013) are richly coloured, painted with Shonibare’s signature batik-inspired surface pattern. Although constructed in fibreglass, they appear fluid like fabric caught by the breeze. These follow the recent success of Shonibare’s commissions for the Royal Opera House, London (2012) and the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square (2010).
Further new work on show in the galleries includes Revolution Kids (2012), half-human, half-animal embodiments of an insurrectionist spirit, waving replicas of Colonel Gaddafi’s golden gun and carrying an obligatory Blackberry. Marking the first time that Shonibare has used taxidermy in his practice, these hybrid figures embody the artist’s response to the London Riots where social media was used as a revolutionary tool, and the Arab Spring with its overriding sense of transformation through insurgence. These powerful works reflect the currency and topical fervency of Shonibare’s work in this timely exhibition.
Highlights also include two Flying Machine sculptures (2012) piloted by fabric-skinned aliens, one of which will be suspended from the ceiling as though coming in to land. Alien Man on Flying Machine (2011) and Alien Woman on Flying Machine (2012) reference the artist’s interest in early flight, space exploration and science fiction while connoting ideas of foreign citizenry and strangeness. Another thematic concern, which particularly resonates with YSP’s 18th century-designed landscape, is Shonibare’s ongoing preoccupation with the historic pursuits of the aristocracy. www.ysp.co.uk