‘You’ve Got to Be a Bit Utopian’: British Artist Yinka Shonibare CBE Explains What it Takes to Be an Artist

The Nigerian-born, London-based Yinka Shonibare CBE began exploring politics in
his art while in school at Goldsmiths, eventually turning his
practice toward deconstructing stereotypes and questioning notions
of authenticity. These explorations have taken him far—most
recently to Chicago, where Shonibare is the first artist
spotlighted for the Driehaus Museum‘s new contemporary art series. For an
artist who has made reanimating the past his method, the museum’s
elegant Gilded Age mansion setting makes for a particularly fitting
environment.

What drives Shonibare? In an episode of Art21’s “Extended Play” series, the artist is
interviewed in his London, offering a window into his thought
process. “You’ve got to be a bit utopian,” he explains, “because
it’s not a very realistic occupation.”

Over the course of his career, Shonibare has returned again and
again to considering power structures, especially those of European
colonialism, asking how his artwork can help re-imagine the world.
Drawing on fashion, especially the batik prints of African
cultures, Shonibare creates diorama installations, photographs,
paintings, and sculptures that question the legacies of colonialism
and empire.

“I don’t really make anything useful,” he says, “and that, in and of itself, is an
illustration of my own disposition.”

Watch the full segment, which originally appeared as part of
the “Art in the Twenty-First Century” television
series on PBS, below. “A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE” is on view at
the Driehaus Museum in Chicago through September 29,
2019. 

This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration
between artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking
artists. A new season of the nonprofit Art21’s
flagship Art in the Twenty-First
Century television is available now on PBS. Watch full
episodes and learn about the organization’s education programs
at Art21.org.

The post ‘You’ve Got to Be a Bit Utopian’: British Artist
Yinka Shonibare CBE Explains What it Takes to Be an Artist
appeared first on artnet News.