Footnotes

Provenance
Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery, Berlin
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibited
Berlin, Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery, The Blue Rider, 19 November-23 December 2005, pp. 20-24, illustrated in color
Moscow, Gary Tatintsian Gallery Inc., Hunky Dory, 2 March-20 April 2007, p. 49, illustrated in color



Thought provoking and provocative, Chris Ofili's Silver Moon, 2005, is a singular take on the artist's view on the human condition and personal relationships. Fitting into a centuries long exploration of the subject matter, the sculpture is a continuation of themes, motifs and mediums that would define Ofili's career, not without controversy, and see his works now included in some of the most significant museums in the world.

Defecation is a consistent theme of Ofili's practice, and in turn his works have consistently courted controversy. The display of the artist's The Holy Virgin Mary, 1996, at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, became the subject of litigation between the city and the museum, due in large part to the artist's use of elephant dung as a sculptural medium in order to depict the mother of Christ. The work is now considered one of the greatest and most influential of the artist's output. Following its sale in 2015 for a seven-figure sum, the work was donated by the esteemed collectors Steven and Alexandra Cohen to the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Despite its contentiousness, excrement continues to be a crucial part of Ofili's works. Here, the act itself is undertaken by a figure the artist titles 'Silver Moon', evoking associations with fertility, given its ability to foster growth in plants and produce. Furthermore, Ofili took inspiration from the Catalan figure 'El Caganer' who regularly appears in Nativity Scenes in the region whilst in the midst of relieving himself.

The debate around this subject matter has become a significant element of these works, almost adding to their mystique. Their subject is disconcerting, some feel blasphemous, but is familiar and entirely universal. In its original display, Silver Moon, was displayed with a partner Blue Moon, each figure facing each other as the both undertake a scatological act. Though shocking and intimate in subject matter, the shock is something of the point, asking us to question why, as an act that it is universal to the human existence, does this continue to surprise us. The work also reminds us how deeply, intimately and intensely relationships can grow to become.

Works with a scatological subject matter are not outliers in the history of art. Hieronymus Bosch's legendary Garden of Earthly Delights, 1503-1515, sees a figure sat atop a throne-like toilet whilst Salvador Dali's Lugubrious Game, 1929, delves into the psychological confusion and complexity associated with defecation. Piero Manzoni's Merda d'artista, 1961, saw the artist preserve his own excrement as a commentary on artistic production and human functions, whilst also furthering the Duchampian theory of the 'ready-made'. In Contemporary Art, Ofili is joined by Wim Delvoye whose installation Cloaca, 2009, turns food to waste, which is then bottled for sale. Meanwhile, Maurizio Cattelan's America, 2016, a gold toilet, was installed in a lavatory at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, where hundreds of thousands of visitors relieved themselves throughout the course of its installation.

Born in Manchester, Chris Ofili was part of the infamous group the Young British Artists that rose out of mid-1990s Britain and would go on to disrupt the art world globally. After inclusion in Charles Saatchi's Sensation exhibition in 1997, Ofili would be recognized by winning the Turner Prize making him the first black artist to do so and the first painter to win the accolade in over a decade. In 2003 he was the representative for the British Pavilion at that year's Venice Biennale. Ofili has been the subject of numerous exhibitions around the world at venues including the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, The National Gallery, London, the New Museum, New York and the Tate Britain, London. His works are held in major public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Gallery, London, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.