Few artists' names can connote such diverse associations as the Virgin Mary, Rudolph Giuliani and elephant dung. (Put thus, it seems rather an achievement.) Controversy tends to dog the art of Chris Ofili, and former New York Mayor Giuliani's suspension of funding for the Brooklyn Museum upon its exhibition of his 1996 painting "The Holy Virgin Mary" in 1999 was but one instance of the ire Ofili routinely arouses. When these occasional media commotions subside, one sees that the work is actually pleasing in more familiar ways: Ofili's surfaces sparkle with smears of glitter and bright veneer, resembling nothing so much as African icons. But Ofili has always been political, specifically in his confrontations with racial cliché, and in his insistent incorporation of materials from popular black culture. Devil's Pie derives its title from singer-songwriter D'Angelo's 1998 lyric meditation on temptation and retribution. According to the song, the ingredients of a devil's pie include "materialistic, greed and lust, jealousy, envious / bread and dough, cheddar cheese, flash and stash, cash and cream." Similarly diverse in its references and dichotomies, Ofili's work contains contradictions. This catalogue collects his work in sculpture, painting, printmaking and graphite drawing for the first time and includes texts by art writer and curator Klaus Kertess and writer Cameron Shaw.

Chris Ofili: Devil's Pie

Shaw, Cameron

Kertess,klaus

Reference

Steidl/David Zwirner Gallery

Once described by critic Jerry Saltz as "orgies of narrative--Nevada's celebrated Chicken Ranch brothel crossed with Wal-Mart and Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau," the libidinously sprawling installations of Jason Rhoades (1965-2006) met cultural overproduction head-on, with a savage fervor comparable only to that of Rhoades' onetime teacher at UCLA, Paul McCarthy. His work encompassed excess and contradiction: "To juggle the impossible was always an issue throughout my work--to take three objects, like a rubber ball, a chain saw and a live African elephant, and try to juggle," he declared. Rhoades' last project, Black Pussy Soiree Cabaret Macrame, was a series of private social events involving massive sculptural installations in which people walked through a large Los Angeles warehouse filled with Ikea-style shelves containing thousands of "dream catchers," hookahs, camel saddles, chrome trolleys and cowboy hats. Neon signs spelled out various words for female genitalia, and guests were invited to contribute to Rhoades' ongoing cross-cultural compendium of these euphemisms. Evolving to fit each location, this installation, which publicly debuted at Hauser &amp; Wirth in London in 2005, traveled to New York's David Zwirner gallery in November of 2007. Its catalogue was conceived by and designed with the artist prior to his untimely death, and includes a foreword by Kevin West, West Coast Editor of W magazine, and photographs by Joshua White and Alexia Pilat.

Jason Rhoades: Black Pussy Cocktail Coffee Table Book

Jason Rhoades

Alex Israel

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Books by Steidl/David Zwirner Gallery