"Chris Ofili's intricately constructed works, combining beadlike dots of paint, collaged images from popular media, and elephant dung, create a unique iconography that marries African artistic and ritual practices with Western art historical traditions and contemporary hip-hop culture. This beautifully designed book, made in close collaboration with the artist, is the first to examine Ofili's artistic development and surveys his work in watercolor, graphite drawing, and sculpture. Literary and historical parallels from a formidable list of contributors explore the ways through which the artist has grasped his times with a palpable sense of history." --Book Jacket.

Two and a half years in the making, 'The Caged Bird's Song' is a monumental tapestry by the celebrated British artist, Chris Ofili. Accompanying 'Chris Ofili: Weaving Magic', the artist's ambitious presentation of the tapestry within a specially conceived environment in the Sunley Room at the National Gallery, this publication tells the story of the work?s evolution and documents the close collaboration between Ofili and master weavers who have interpreted his designs with astonishing nuance. A suite of previously unseen preparatory watercolours and works on paper and a revealing essay by the exhibition's curator, Minna Moore Ede, further illuminate this extraordinary project by one of the most acclaimed artists working today.

"Peter Doig's highly distinctive paintings have been exhibited in major museums and galleries worldwide to international acclaim. In each work, Doig seeks to create an atmosphere that will draw the viewer into an intense and beguiling perceptual experience. Derived from photographic sources or quasi-memories, to form grand and magical tableaux, his pictorial world has also been shaped by the different places he has lived in. Born in Scotland, he was raised in Canada and spent two decades in London, before moving to Trinidad, where he now lives and works." "Accompanying a major retrospective exhibition, this lavishly illustrated book provides a comprehensive account of Doig's practice over two decades of extraordinary achievement. With an essay by Richard Shiff, an introduction by Tate curator Judith Nesbitt and an illuminating conversation between Doig and his friend, the artist Chris Ofili, this is a thorough and up-to-date survey of one of the most influential painters at work today."--BOOK JACKET.

Installation of 13 paintings of rhesus macaque monkeys in a large walnut-panelled room designed by architect David Adjaye. The room is approached through a dimly-lit corrridor, which is designed to give a sense of anticipation. Each painting depicts a monkey based around a different colour theme (grey, red, white etc.). The twelve smaller paintings show a monkey from the side and they are based on a 1957 Andy Warhol drawing. The larger monkey is depicted from the front. Each painting is individually spotlit in the otherwise darkened room. The room is designed to create an impressive and contemplative atmosphere. The paintings each rest on two round lumps of elephant dung, treated and coated in resin. There is also a lump of the dung on each painting. Strictly speaking, each work is mixed media, comprising paint, resin, glitter, mapping pins and elephant dung. The Upper Room as a whole is described by the Tate (which bought the piece in 2005) as an "installation". The Upper Room is a reference to the Biblical Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples, hence the thirteen paintings. Ofili states the work is not intended to be offensive, but rather to contrast the harmonious life of the monkeys with the travails of the human race.