NEW YORK, NY.- The Studio Museum in Harlem proudly presents Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995-2005, a rare solo U.S. museum exhibition of more than 175 iconic watercolors created by the artist over the last decade.

Known for his aesthetic daring and his passion for painting, Ofili has always seen the watercolors as an important extension of his painting practice. Like some of his paintings and pencil drawings, these watercolors are imagined portraits of treasured archetypes and present Ofili’s acute sensitivity towards portraiture and his exuberant use of color. Mostly portraying women but also some men, they are created in vivid color with precise and bold lines.

Organized by SMH Chief Curator Thelma Golden, the curatorial process for this exhibition allowed for a degree of site-specificity. Ofili was not only inspired by the opportunity to show this body of work in New York, but particularly in Harlem.

“I think meaning shifts with context” says Ofili. “A painting can be shown in one place and taken one way, and shown in another and understood in a completely different way. But, ultimately the paintings stay the same, only the meanings shift through time and place and between people.”

A full-color catalogue with a foreword by Thelma Golden and contributions by New Yorker staff writer Hilton Als, and artist and critic Beth Coleman will accompany the exhibition.

Born in Manchester, England in 1968, Chris Ofili attended the Chelsea School of Art and received his MA in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art in London. In 1992, he traveled to Zimbabwe on a British Council scholarship, which had a lasting impact on his painting practice. Ofili was the 1998 recipient of the Turner Prize, making him the second painter to be honored with the award in the history of the competition, and he represented the United Kingdom at the 50th Venice Biennale 2003. The artist’s work is in the permanent collection of various institutions including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Tate Gallery in London, the Goetz Collection in Munich, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995-2005 is presented with the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation 2004-2005 Exhibition Fund, Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy, and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.