For the first major solo exhibition by Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA) in Nigeria, Wind Sculpture VI, a six metre high fibreglass sculpture, is installed in Ndubuisi Kanu Park in Ikeja, Lagos. The project is part of the British Council’s UK/Nigeria 2015–16 season, which aims to build new audiences, create new collaborations and strengthen relationships between the two countries.

Shonibare, who was born in London and moved to Lagos as a child, is travelling to Nigeria for the unveiling of the sculpture. He is giving a talk to students and there is a screening of three films by Shonibare at the site of the installation in Ndubuisi Kanu Park: Odile, Addio del Pasato and Un Ballo in Maschera.

Wind Sculpture VI forms part of a series of important large-scale works that marked a new departure for Shonibare by working in fibre-glass and steel. Using these materials, Shonibare investigates the shifting movement of wind passing through fabric. In these grand sculptures, the artist encapsulates the sheer volume of wind three-dimensionally with exquisite dynamism.

With Wind Sculptures, Shonibare has captured a moment in time where wind passes through his signature Dutch wax batik fabrics on a dramatically grand scale. These six metre high sculptures appear to be an ephemeral billowing form but are actually rendered in steel and fibreglass. The organic concaved and convexed shapes formed by nature are mirrored in the patterns which replicate 'African' fabrics. There is a different pattern and palette for each sculpture in the series that are hand painted onto the surface with bright colours. All of the these elements together lend the work a magical and poetic quality that deliberately plays on initial perceptions and frames of reference, a thread running throughout Shonibare’s practice.

This work was first shown in 2014 as part of Cannonball Paradise at Gerisch Stiftung, Neumünster, Germany. In 2014, a unique edition of the series was installed permanently on public display at Howick Place, Victoria, London. In 2013, two editions of the work were exhibited at Yorkshire Sculpture Park as part of Shonibare’s major survey retrospective. Shonibare's other Wind Sculptures are also currently on view in Singapore and the USA.

Wind Sculpture VI, Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA), is on display as part of UK/Nigeria 2015–16, organised by the British Council with the kind support of GT Bank. This installation is a collaboration between Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA), Stephen Friedman Gallery and the British Council.

Follow the project on Twitter and Instagram: #UKNGWindSculpture #UKNG

Find out about Shonibare's work in the British Council Collection

Find out about the British Council in Nigeria

 

 

Collection Artist(s)

Glossary

  • Edition

    All copies of a book, print, portfolio, sculpture, etc., issued or produced at one time or from a single set of type. Printed works can be made in an edition of between one and many thousands of copies. With most printing techniques the plate or screen will become worn if very many prints are made, so to maintain quality (and exclusivity) editions of original prints are usually kept below one hundred copies and normally average between thirty and fifty copies. Prints made up of several different plates can be extremely complicated and time-consuming to edition, so in these cases editions are kept low for practical reasons. Sculptural editions are a set of cast sculptures taken from the same mould or master. These editions are usually much lower, consisting of no more than six casts. Though each cast in an edition might have a lower value than a unique piece, it may be a more effective way of offsetting costs of an expensive process such as bronze casting.

  • Fibreglass

    A light and durable material made from glass filaments embedded in plastic that can be moulded, stained or painted.

  • Installation

    An artwork comprised of many and various elements of miscellaneous materials (see mixed media), light and sound, which is conceived for and occupies an entire space, gallery or site. The viewer can often enter or walk around the installation. Installations may only exist as long as they are installed, but can be re-created in different sites. Installation art emerged in the 1960s out of Environmental Art (works of art which are three-dimensional environments), but it was not until the 1970s that the term came into common use and not until the late 1980s that artists started to specialise in this kind of work, creating a genre of ‘Installation Art’. The term can also be applied to the arrangement of selected art works in an exhibition.

  • Sculpture

    A three-dimensional work of art. Such works may be carved, modelled, constructed, or cast. Sculptures can also be described as assemblage, in the round, relief, and made in a huge variety of media. Contemporary practice also includes live elements, as in Gilbert & George 'Living Sculpture' as well as broadcast work, radio or sound sculpture.