Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 2004
Published by: NAi Publishers
Year published: 2004
Number of pages: 144
ISBN: 90-5662-367-2

The catalogue Double Dutch was evidence of the extent to which, as Yinka Shonibare’s stock continued to rise, ever increasing numbers of galleries, museums, and collectors the world over wanted something of what Shonibare had to offer. And to this end, they were aided and abetted by a seemingly ever-increasing number of the world’s curators, critics, writers, art historians and journalists, whose repetitive writings on Shonibare barely moved beyond the range of the mildly fawning through to the explicitly sycophantic. Shonibare was able to secure as essayists big hitters such as John Picton and Manthia Diawara, for this weighty and extensively illustrated catalogue, though much of what they wrote amounted to little more than advertising copy. Elsewhere in this catalogue, Onyema Offoedu-Okeke was able to begin his essay with the sentence “Owing to Shonibare’s brilliance, attention has been drawn to his haunting displays of a profound idealized vision, a flight of fancy that includes his updated travesty of a photo-iconography as well as his paradoxical ‘wax-scapes’.”

This profusely illustrated gloss coloured book, some 144 pages, contained a number of texts.

The catalogue was published on the occasion of the exhibition Yinka Shonibare - Double Dutch… held at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam from 21 February - 25 April 2004 and the Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna from 15 May - 5 September 2004. ISBN 90-5662-367-2 © 2004 NAi Publishers, Rotterdam - www.naipublishers.nl / info@naipublishers.nl

Catalogue content as follows:

8. Preface

17. Independence Cha Cha, The art of Yinka Shonibare - Manthia Diawara

35. To Entertain and Provoke, Western influences in the work of Yinka Shonibare - Jaap Guldemond and Gabriele Mackert

45. Laughing at Ourselves - John Picton

63. The African Dandy - Angela McRobbie

81. Lordly Pleasures, The Victorian aristocracy at play - Peter Bailey

107. The Head Stream That Never Runs Dry, Shonibare’s haunting vision bears witness to the profound influence of his native country - Onyema Offoedu-Okeke

121. Experience, Uncertainty, and the Power of the False - Achille Mbembe.

139. Biography, Bibliography

143. On the Authors.

The catalogue was designed by Irma Boom (born 15 December 1960), a Dutch graphic designer who specialises in book making.