Chris Ofili: Can Religious Art Still Shock Us?

BBC | NEWS
By Alastair Sooke
The Holy Virgin Mary (Chris Ofili)
NEW YORK---“Ambitious”, “vibrant”, “gorgeous”: these were just three of the adjectives marshalled by American art critics to salute the mid-career retrospective of the British artist Chris Ofili that opened at the New Museum in New York last month. Fifteen years ago, though, when Ofili participated in a group exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, the reception he received was anything but rapturous. In fact, it was downright brutal. The opprobrium was directed at his unforgettable painting The Holy Virgin Mary (1996). [link]