An installation consisting of a specially designed panelled room that Ofili created in collaboration with the architect David Adjaye.
Twelve smaller canvases line the two sides with a larger canvas on the end wall. Each canvas depicts a profile of a rhesus macaque monkey in a different colour and named in Spanish on two elephant dung supports. The canvas at the head of the room shows a larger monkey in gold facing forward bringing to mind a beatific Buddha as well as a Christ figure or an alpha male simian. Each canvas is brightly lit as though it were stained glass.
More information
Title of artwork, date
The Upper Room, 1999-2002
Date supported
2005
Medium and material
Canvas with mixed media; walnut veneered plywood; elephant dung supports
Dimensions
1-12) 183.6 x 122.3 cm; 13) 244.2 x 183 cm
Grant
75000
Total cost
600000
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