Skip to content
Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE's sculpture titled Abstract Bronze I, 2023.

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Bronze I, 2023

Bronze sculpture, hand-painted with Dutch wax pattern

78 3/4 x 57 3/4 x 49 3/4 in.

200 x 146.8 x 126.4 cm

 

JCG15155

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE's sculpture titled Abstract Bronze I, 2023.

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Bronze I, 2023

Bronze sculpture, hand-painted with Dutch wax pattern

78 3/4 x 57 3/4 x 49 3/4 in.
200 x 146.8 x 126.4 cm

 

JCG15155

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE  Wind Sculpture in Bronze II, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Wind Sculpture in Bronze II, 2023

Hand painted bronze

78 3/4 x 59 x 54 in.
200 x 150 x 137 cm

 

JCG13148

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE  Wind Sculpture in Bronze II, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Wind Sculpture in Bronze II, 2023

Hand painted bronze

78 3/4 x 59 x 54 in.
200 x 150 x 137 cm

 

JCG13148

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Bronze Textile I, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Bronze Textile I, 2023

Hand painted bronze

59 x 45 3/8 x 33 in
150 x 115.4 x 83.8 cm

 

JCG15156

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Bronze Textile I, 2023.

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Bronze Textile I, 2023

Hand painted bronze

59 x 45 3/8 x 33 in.
150 x 115.4 x 83.8 cm

 

JCG15156

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Modern Spiritual (Fang Ngil, Kumbaduba), 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Modern Spiritual (Fang Ngil, Kumbaduba), 2023

Handwoven cotton, linen, wool and metallic thread

78 3/4 x 63 in.
200 x 160 cm

 

JCG15154

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE  Modern Spiritual (Fang Ngil, Kumbaduba), 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Modern Spiritual (Fang Ngil, Kumbaduba), 2023

Handwoven cotton, linen, wool and metallic thread

78 3/4 x 63 in.
200 x 160 cm

 

JCG15154

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE's Abstract Spiritual IV, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual IV, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

74 3/4 x 98 3/8 in.
190 x 250 cm

 

JCG15149

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE's Abstract Spiritual IV, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual IV, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

74 3/4 x 98 3/8 in.
190 x 250 cm

 

JCG15149

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Abstract Spiritual V, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual V, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

98 3/8 x 66 7/8 in.
250 x 170 cm

 

JCG15150

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Abstract Spiritual V, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual V, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

98 3/8 x 66 7/8 in.
250 x 170 cm

 

JCG15150

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Abstract Spiritual I, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual I, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

63 x 47 1/4 in.
160 x 120 cm

 

JCG15146

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Abstract Spiritual I, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual I, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

63 x 47 1/4 in.
160 x 120 cm

 

JCG15146

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE  Abstract Spiritual III, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual III, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

49 1/4 x 39 3/8 in.
125 x 100 cm

 

JCG15148

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Abstract Spiritual III, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual III, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

49 1/4 x 39 3/8 in.
125 x 100 cm

 

JCG15148

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Abstract Spiritual VI, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual VI, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

39 3/8 x 59 in.
100 x 150 cm

 

JCG15151

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Abstract Spiritual VI, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual VI, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

39 3/8 x 59 in.
100 x 150 cm

 

JCG15151

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE's Abstract Spiritual IX, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual IX, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery, and Dutch wax printed cotton

27 1/2 x 19 3/4 in.
70 x 50 cm

Framed Dimensions: 73.2 x 53.3cm

 

JCG15701

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE Abstract Spiritual IX, 2023.

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual IX, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery, and Dutch wax printed cotton

27 1/2 x 19 3/4 in.
70 x 50 cm
Framed Dimensions: 73.2 x 53.3cm

 

JCG15701

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE's Abstract Spiritual VII, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual VII, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

27 1/2 x 19 3/4 in.
70 x 50 cm

 

JCG15152

Image of YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE's Abstract Spiritual VII, 2023

YINKA SHONIBARE, CBE

Abstract Spiritual VII, 2023

Patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile quiltwork

27 1/2 x 19 3/4 in.
70 x 50 cm

 

JCG15152

Press Release

James Cohan is pleased to present Boomerang: Returning to African Abstraction, a solo exhibition by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA featuring new hand-painted bronze sculptures, quilt works, and the premiere of the artist’s first tapestry. The exhibition will be on view from October 26 through December 22 at the gallery’s 48 Walker Street location. This is Shonibare’s eighth solo exhibition with James Cohan. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artist on Thursday, October 26 from 6-8 PM. A conversation between Shonibare and Donna Honarpisheh, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and Research at ICA Miami, will take place at 5 PM on Friday, October 27.

 

Stretched and framed like paintings, Shonibare’s new series of pictorial quilts, Abstract Spiritual, appropriates African artworks owned or referenced by European modernist artists including Pablo Picasso, Andre Derain, Tristan Tzara, Constantin Brancusi, and Francis Picabia, among others. The African works hover amidst abstract backgrounds that interweave the artist’s signature Dutch wax textiles with a diamond motif recalling both the quilts of Gee’s Bend and Picasso’s Harlequin paintings. In this way, they point to the foundational influence of African and African Diasporic art in the development of abstraction within the Western-European art historical canon.

 

Shonibare’s first tapestry to date, Modern Spiritual (Fang Ngil, Kumbaduba), similarly explores the African aesthetic roots of European modernist abstraction. Woven in collaboration with Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, the work depicts masks referenced by Francis Picabia, now held in the Louvre’s collection. Materially, the work refers back to the Modernist era, which saw a resurgence in the tapestry medium by artists including Matisse and Joan Miró. The artist says of these new textile works, “In Boomerang I am conveying the origins of abstraction in African artifacts and the pivotal role [African artists] played in the development of Western modernist abstraction. My motivation is to acknowledge the contribution of African abstraction to the global language of modernist abstraction.”

Back To Top