About the Exhibit - Affinities
It’s challenging enough to put on a gallery exhibition that translates an artist's message to the world, but to tell the story of two artist’s work in a way that appears harmonious and logical is a feat. Affinities - a show at David Zwirner Gallery in London with sculptures by Jasmine Thomas-Girvan and paintings by Chis Ofili, probably wouldn’t have been as successful if the artists didn’t know each other for many decades.
“Drawing alternately from Caribbean history, myth, ritual, literature, and her own experience, Thomas-Girvan’s poetically inflected works are grounded in the specificity of the Caribbean landscape and the region’s colonial past, but open out onto universal themes—most prominently, transformation and the construction of identity.” (source)
Thomas-Girvan utilizes everyday materials from her Caribbean home like shells, palm fronds, and mangrove hairs.
“Jasmine’s work tells beautiful and mysterious tales that are a combination of fragility and dread with a knowing nod towards alchemy and witchcraft of the past, present, and future.” - Chris Ofili (source).
So where’s the connection? Although he was born and raised in the UK, Ofili now lives in Trinidad as well. He too takes inspiration from the Caribbean islands and it’s music which appear in his representations of Calypso and Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey.
“His intricate, kaleidoscopic paintings and works on paper that deftly merge abstraction and figuration, Ofili’s recent works—vibrant, symbolic, and frequently mysterious—evoke the lush landscapes and local traditions of Trinidad.” (source).
About the Artists
Jasmine Thomas-Girvan is based in Trinidad.
She received her BFA from Parsons School of Design in New York.
She’s received a handful of awards including the National Gallery of Jamaica’s Aaron Matalon Award in 2012 and 2017, as the artist who made the most outstanding contribution to that year’s Jamaica Biennial.
Chis Ofili received his BFA from the Chelsea School of Art, London, and his MFA from the Royal College of Art, London. He had paintings in the 56th Venice Biennale, and was a recipient of the Turner Prize in 1998.
