Yinka Shonibare at Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2008-09) (press release)
artdesigncafé | café library | Published 17 October 2008
5 August 2008
MCA presents major solo survey of Yinka Shonibare MBE
Leading New York and Washington venues secured for exhibition tour
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
24 September 2008 - 1 February 2009
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Yinka Shonibare. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Africa), (2008). Type c photograph mounted on aluminum. Image: 182.88 x 123.73 cm, frame size 207.01 x 147.32 x 6.35 cm edition of 5 (2 APs). Courtesy of the artist, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and James Cohan Gallery, New York.
The Museum of Contemporary (MCA) has secured two of the world’s leading international museums as tour venues for a major solo exhibition of works by British-born Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE.
The exhibition Yinka Shonibare MBE runs at the MCA from 24 September 2008 until 1 February 2009 before touring to the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York from 26 June - 20 September 2009. It then tours to the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC from 11 November 2009 until 7 March 2010.
MCA Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor said: “This is a real coup for the MCA to have secured our exhibition to tour to two of the world’s most respected institutions. It is testament to the calibre of our curatorial team and represents a first for our expanding touring program.”
Set to be a highlight of the MCA 2008 program, this major mid-career survey encompasses twelve years of practice.
The exhibition is curated by MCA Senior Curator Rachel Kent, who has worked closely with the artist on its realisation. Kent says “This exhibition is an international first, representing Yinka Shonibare’s most comprehensive exhibition to date. It presents a unique insight into one of the most acclaimed artists working across cultures today.”
Yinka Shonibare MBE works with diverse artistic media to explore ideas about African contemporary identity and the legacy of European colonialism in the present. His work seeks to playfully stimulate debate about culture, authenticity and issues of identity today.
Encompassing painting, sculpture, large-scale mixed media installations, photography, and most recently film, Yinka Shonibare’s practice is linked by theoretical concerns centred upon social class and aesthetics, and the use of recurring visual symbols such as “Dutch wax” fabric.
In 2004, Yinka Shonibare MBE was short-listed for the Tate’s prestigious Turner Prize for his solo exhibition Double Dutch. The following year, Shonibare, MBE was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), an award which he has accepted with some irony, given the critical focus of his work.
Yinka Shonibare was recently selected as the artist who will create the 2010 commission for the Fourth Plinth, the UK’s most prestigious public art commission, in Trafalgar Square, London.
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Yinka Shonibare. The Swing (after Fragonard), (2001). Life-size fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, swing, artificial foliage. Dimensions variable, approx. 330 x 350 x 220 cm.
The exhibition will be presented in the MCA’s largest exhibition space, covering 1,160 square metres. There is a focus on recent and new work and key international loans have been secured including The Swing (after Fragonard) 2001 from the Tate, London. His ambitious multi-part installation Gallantry and Criminal Conversation 2002 has been brought together for the first time since its presentation at Documenta 11, Germany in 2002.
Yinka Shonibare MBE will travel to Sydney to oversee the installation of his exhibition and will take part in a range of MCA public programs related to the show.
The exhibition is accompanied by a major monograph (224pp), a joint partnership between Prestel Publishing and the MCA. It features major essays by MCA Senior Curator Rachel Kent; American art historian Dr Robert Hobbs; a comprehensive interview between the artist and Dr Anthony Downey (UK); reproductions of exhibited and contextual works; and biographical information on the artist.
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