Chris Ofili is an interesting contemporary artist who questions societal standards in his works. His images are vibrant and unconventional, drawing from many sources including the aboriginal and african american cultures. He purposefully uses images and mediums to shock the observer. In the top image, he's incorporated elephant dung and cutouts of people with afros while in the Holy Virgin Mary, he adds cutouts from pornographic images to the background. I think that, among other things, Ofili is trying to illustrate that something as gross or unappreciated as elephant dung, as lewd as pornography, or as socially charged as the afro can be incorporated into art to create something beautiful. Because, for me, Ofili's images are, above all, very aesthetically pleasing. They become even more interesting when, upon looking closer, you find that they are actually constructed from such strange individual parts.
here's a link to an interesting article about Ofili:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2003/nov/01/20yearsoftheturnerprize.turnerprize9
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