Azure Ramos - Yinka Shonibare MBE

Yinka Shonibare is on of my favorite living artists. If I had to choose someone to emulate it would be him. Beginning with his ideals and his perception of art. He claims that you have to be a bit of a Utopian to create art simply because it is not a practical profession. On the most basic level, as an artist you specialize in making things that have no actual or practical use. You create simply because of the urge to create.

As far as his work, it's fantastic. I adore the theatrical aspects of his work, from the use of bright, ornate, fabrics and costumes, to the actual choreographed scenes themselves. He carries these characteristics through out all of his pieces and in his exploration into different media. Which brings me to another aspect of his work that I just love, his versatility. Yinka explores his style and ideas throughtout various forms of art from, film to sculpture, to drawing. He is one of few artists working today that don't have a single particular medium that they work in which you identifiy them with (i.e. Mark Ryden is a painter.) Ideally, I would love to work this way. I feel very constricted at school because I am made to choose a specific field of study and your work must fit into the paramater of that field. (This is going to sound bad at first) I think a big reason that he is able to jump around so much in terms of media is because of the fact that he is disabled. He has assistants help him the production of the work and his input is for the most part conceptual. I sure it is very limiting many way (physically of course) but when you considser his work and his process it's also very liberating. When the burden of physically manifesting an idea is alleviated, one is free to explore new ideas and concepts constantly. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLmS3ruy5LA