Ofili made these prints shortly after he moved from London to Trinidad. He challenged himself to work exclusively with a restricted palette of blues and silver, saying “I’ve found that the night and twilight here enhances the imagination. . . . It’s a different level of consciousness that is less familiar to me.” Ofili’s iridescent works—which pay homage to the Japanese tradition of shunga, a type of erotic printmaking popular during the Edo period—invite a different kind of looking. The subtle tonal shifts and fine linework require time for the eye to discern in compositions that gradually reveal themselves.

Gallery label from

2023

Medium Portfolio of eleven etchings with gravure on pigmented paper
Dimensions plate: 18 5/16 × 10 3/8" (46.5 × 26.3 cm); sheet: 26 3/8 × 17 1/2" (67 × 44.5 cm)
Publisher Two Palms Press, New York
Printer Two Palms Press, New York
Edition 20
Credit The Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Endowment
Object number 24.2016.1-11
Department Drawings and Prints

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