We’ve sourced some of the most interesting and thought-provoking Chris Ofili Quotes. Each of the following quotes is overflowing with creativity, and knowledge.
The studio is a place where I can experiment before I’m prepared for an idea to become a body of work, or a new way of working, or a way of working that can sustain me over a period of time.
When I left the Royal College, I decided I would only make paintings that I would want to look at myself, that felt close to my life.
A lot of what Trinidad is about is the feeling of the place, the atmosphere of the place, particularly at night, and the mystery of the forest.
Change is not indecision.
The studio is a laboratory, not a factory. An exhibition is the result of your experiments, but the process is never-ending. So an exhibition is not a conclusion.
We all studied math, but we don’t go around spewing numbers. Religion should be used in the appropriate way.
Moving to Trinidad was a great experiment. I never knew what it would do to my work or even if it would be accepted by people and not be seen as me just falling off the edge of the earth.
‘Death & the Roses’ came out of ideas about flagellation and guilt and from looking at Piero della Francesca’s ‘The Flagellation of Christ.’
I’m black, and it’s a very important part of what I am. I’m not embarrassed about it.
I don’t quite know how the urban music category came about, but I suspect it had something to do with trying to maximise sales.
Trinidad was an opportunity to start all over again, to have another stab at it. The mystery and atmosphere of the place have entered my palette a lot more than I thought they would.
Sometimes, as I feel a door or an exit point in my work is closing, I’ll try to create an opening so as not to stifle the creative process, which I see as a process that’s never-ending.
I try to bring all that I am to my work and all that I experience. That includes how people react to the way I am – the prejudice and the celebrations.
I really like the language of painting.
Often I think changes within my work have been seen as sudden changes or sharp changes, but for me they’re not that sudden. They have been there in the studio, but not so much in public.
I’ve always found music inspired me in the studio to try to do new things. If someone comes out with a new album, it’s like, ‘Gosh, they’ve been working hard – so should I.’
Love is a blissful state, but it’s not a utopia.
I love Manchester. I love Manchester United. But I would really struggle to be creative there. I feel a bit lost, over-familiar maybe. Maybe too stuck in my own web of history.
I was an altar boy and heard the Bible being read out repeatedly. The stories have stayed with me, although they’re completely remixed in my head. And often, when I do further reading, I’m quite surprised by the difference between the real story and my memory of the story.
