2/9/02

Awfully Chris

Chris Ofili is the first painter in ten years to have actually won the Turner Prize. His show at the Victoria Miro Gallery (ended 3 August) further consolidated his reputation. Four vast paintings fill the lower gallery, running up to 12 ft by 9 ft endorsed the painter’s reputation, justifiably the only British artist in MOMA’s top selection of contemporaries. In an inner space there are twelve works, six to each wall. Here the climax is a monkey identical in each painted profile, within foliated space. The paintings are nothing if exotic. In the present volatile market, a painting by Ofili could prove the surest standby.