Chris Ofili Tapestry

I was lucky enough to have a few days off work and head down to London for a few days of immersing ourselves in art of various types.  

This post is about the Chris Ofili exhibition at the National Gallery.

From his watercolours he stepped out of his comfort zone and designed a tapestry triptych called "The Caged Birds Song" which echos the writer and black activist Maya Angelou's powerful autobiographical work, "I know why the caged bird sings".

 His watercolours and sketchbooks were on display

and whilst the final watercolour is impressive

It really does not prepare you for the final room where the entire walls are decorated in his paintings and in front of you the HUGE tapestry.

The weavers of Dovecot Tapestry Studio in Scotland took over 2.5 years to hand weave the three pieces.

Their rendition of the watercolours and the way the pigment moves is magically brought to life in wool.  They get the flow of colour by blending wools to create the colours.

 

 

The scale and trying to get my head round that this is wool and NOT paint was mind blowing

 

It was a fantastic exhibition, free and not like anything I have seen before, if you get the opportunity to see it I recommend it.

Kyla