Chris ofili the holy virgin

But it made me feel uncomfortable that it might not. It felt very free and open, a place where you had to discover things. Lehman, filed a federal lawsuit against Giuliani for a breach of the First Amendment. On a yellow-orange background, the large painting 8 feet high by 6 feet wide depicts a black woman wearing a blue robe, a traditional attribute of the Virgin Mary. The opprobrium was directed at his unforgettable painting The Holy Virgin Mary He'd been invited there several years ago and had enjoyed it.

Giuliani not singled it out, Chris Ofili's ''Holy Virgin Mary'' would certainly have gone almost unnoticed in the current ''Sensation'' exhibition, being a work that, under normal circumstances and in the context of all the really outlandish art in the show, doesn't deserve much attention. Ofili is playing with the ideas of blasphemy and worship, race and religion, toying in a gently ironic way with the space between public outrage and private expression to make his own spiritual statement, which among other things is not original. Museum guards protecting the painting were quoted as saying: Ofili, it turns out, has been painting his watercolor heads nearly every day for 10 years -- for himself, mostly, although some of them have made their way into the world. Ofili visited Trinidad for the first time in , when he was invited by an international art trust to attend a painting workshop in Port of Spain. EngvarB from September Use dmy dates from September

But when the show arrived in New York, Mayor Giuliani described the Ofili canvas as "sick" and "disgusting" and threatened to take action against the Brooklyn Museum unless it pulled the display. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Images of that type of artworks are prohibited for copying, printing, or any kind of reproducing and communicating to public since these activities may be considered copyright infringement. The work employs mixed media , including oil paint , glitter , and polyester resin , and also elephant dung, map pins and collaged pornographic images. From London, Ofili gave a statement to Carol Vogel of the New York Times, expressing his surprise at the response his painting had provoked.