Art and the One-Trick Pony

Yinka Shonibare, Scramble for Africa (2003)

I just read Karen Rosenberg’s review of the Yinka Shonibare show at the Brooklyn Museum.  (See “Fashions of a Postcolonial Provocateur,” July 2, 2009).  Rosenberg’s criticism of Shonibare’s work is as follows:  ”Once you grasp the essential concept of his art…the rest is window dressing.”  Having recently seen the Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, I was left wondering about the expectations that we hold for contemporary artists in comparison to artists from the past.  I am often turned off by contemporary art in which the concept is so easily grasped that it fails to engage me either intellectually or emotionally.  But I’m not in agreement with Rosenberg that this type of criticism applies to Shonibare’s work.  Shonibare raises questions about “post” colonial culture that continue to resonate.  Rosenberg notes that his use of fabric creates a compelling visual display, and I suggest we compare this  to the use of color by painters.  Let me get to the point.  As Shonibare is viewed as “straight up” by Rosenberg, might we also view the three rivals on view at the Museum of Fine Arts?  After all, how often have these Renaissance artists reverted to the same subject matter in their work?  Why does this repeated subject matter continue to resonate?  Because, I believe, we value the subject being explored.  Why do we get so quickly tired of postcolonial issues when we (almost) never cease to tire of the same old subjects that have permeated art making practice for centuries?  Could you imagine Rosenberg’s criticism of Shonibare being applied to Titian?  I’m reminded of a dharma talk that I heard a few years ago by a Buddhist monk in which he recounted the story of a great Buddhist master.  The master’s student came to hear dharma talks regularly but then started to complain.  He said, “I keep coming to these talks, but you just keep repeating the same basic ideas about Buddhist practice again and again.”  The master replied, “Well, have you been following the practice I keep describing?”  The student answered, “No.”  Enough said.  Maybe when we truly are in a “post” colonial world, Shonibare’s repeated return to this subject will seem redundant.  But until then, his subjects remain powerful reminders of the colonial past that continues to inform our present.

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