The subversive, mercurial art of Yinka Shonibare
Yinka Shonibare’s work is mercurial by nature. Combining beauty, darkness, tragedy and humour, the British-Nigerian artist deftly engages the viewer in a dance of subversion and confrontation. Yinka, who was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2004, uses sculpture, printmaking, installation and video to explore themes of cultural identity, post-colonialism and globalisation. He pilfers art historical references from the Western canon – is he poking fun at Gainsborough, Hogarth and Fragonard or paying homage? He recurrently uses patterned batiks, politically charged fabrics that are Indonesian in origin and reached west Africa in the 19th century via colonial trade routes.
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To engage with Yinka’s work is to skip back and forth across cultures and between eras; the more you look, the less sure you are of the artist’s own position. ‘My works are about ambivalence and nuance,’ he says. ‘They hold ideas within them, but it is essential they work as pieces of art.’
Due to the nature of his disability, Yinka now uses a wheelchair and works with assistants to create his pieces. His east London studio is where the design work happens, woodcuts are made in his garden studio at home, while what he calls ‘the dirty studio’ in Peckham is for painting and fabrication.
As one of the Young British Artists of the Eighties and Nineties, Yinka began working when exhibitions were often held in disused warehouses. Aware that today artists are being priced out of London, he conceived Guest Projects – a free exhibition space on the ground floor of his canalside studio for creatives across all mediums to use.
Yinka is due to open Guest Artists Space Foundation in 2021 – an artist residency programme across two sites in Nigeria: in Lekki, Lagos, and on a 54-acre farm in the Ijebu region. ‘What I’m doing is a drop in the ocean, but symbolically it’s important. I’m using my art as a means of social change,’ he says. ‘Without the art I can’t do it.’
Yinka Shonibare is represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery. An exhibition of his work will be at the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, Austria, June 27-October 11. yinkashonibare.com| stephenfriedman.com museumdermoderne.at
1/6Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle(maquette) fibreglass, steel, brass, resin, Dutch wax-printed cotton textile, 2007.
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3/6Wings and a globe are among the props used for photo shoots, video works or installations.
4/6Yinka’s studio in east London, overlooking the Regent’s Canal, is where his design work happens.
5/6Victorian-style shoes and boots in Dutch wax-printed cotton batik are props from earlier productions.
6/6A large skylight floods the space with light.
