Chris Ofili

1 portrait

© Chris Ofili

5 Likes voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Make a donation Close

Chris Ofili

by Chris Ofili
oil on canvas, 1991
40 1/8 in. x 17 3/8 in. (1019 mm x 442 mm)
Purchased with help from Laura and Barry Townsley and Janet de Botton, 2008
Primary Collection
NPG 6835

On display in Room 28 on Floor 2 at the National Portrait Gallery

Sitterback to top

  • Chris Ofili (1968-), Artist. Sitter in 5 portraits, Artist or producer of 1 portrait.

Artistback to top

  • Chris Ofili (1968-), Artist. Artist or producer of 1 portrait, Sitter in 5 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Self-portraiture is rare in Chris Ofili's work. He typically employs collage, resin, glitter and multiple layers of paint to create images that take racial and sexual stereotypes as their subject matter. Made when Ofili was still a student at the Chelsea School of Art, this self-portrait is relatively traditional but the startlingly cropped composition draws attention to the artist's single eye and the intensity of his self-scrutiny in the mirror.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Howgate, Sarah; Nairne, Sandy, A Guide to Contemporary Portraits, 2009, p. 18 Read entry

    Chris Ofili’s work often makes reference to his Nigerian heritage, with images that take racial and sexual stereotypes as their subject matter. This early painting is one of a number of self-portraits painted by Ofili from 1988. It was executed while he was at Chelsea School of Art (1989-91) and is among the most compelling of these works, at once more painterly, directly observed and literal than its counterparts. It prefigures his later college-based style when self-portraiture ceased to be a subject.

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1991back to top

Current affairs

Publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell dies after falling from his yacht in the Canary Islands. Although the verdict was 'accidental death', suspicions of suicide or murder were raised because of his alleged connections to Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, and the revelation that he had used hundreds of millions of pounds from his companies' pension funds to finance his corporate debt and lavish lifestyle.

Art and science

Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the rock group Queen, dies of Aids.
Marc Quinn brings a new meaning to the term 'Self-Portrait' with his work Self, a cast of the artists' head made out of his own blood.

International

Members of the USSR sign the Alma-Ata Protocol, disbanding the Union in favour of a Commonwealth of Independent States, thereby granting independence to the various republics.
The Revolutionary United Front begins a civil war against the government of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Tens of thousands die in eleven years of violence.
Civil War breaks out in the former Yugoslavia as Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.