For a few years now we have been working with Yinka Shonibare (MBE RA), on creating bespoke globes for his artwork.
Over the past decade, Shonibare has become well known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation. Shonibare’s work explores these issues, alongside those of race and class, through the media of painting, sculpture, photography and, more recently, film and performance. Using this wide range of media, Shonibare examines in particular the construction of identity and tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe and their respective economic and political histories. Mixing Western art history and literature, he asks what constitutes our collective contemporary identity today. Having described himself as a ‘post-colonial’ hybrid, Shonibare questions the meaning of cultural and national definitions.
Below are some recent works featuring bespoke Bellerby & Co’s globes ::
Date: 2015 | Dimensions: 179 x 139 x 89 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, books, globe and steel baseplate
Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, Photographer: Stephen White
Date: 2015
Dimensions: 156 x 94 x 120 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, books, globe, leather and steel baseplate
Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, Photographer: Stephen White.
Date: 2015
Dimensions: 134 x 66 x 86 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, silk, metal, globe, leather and steel baseplate
Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, Photographer: Stephen White
Dimensions: 300 x 122 x 80 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, wooden ladder, hardback books, globe, leather and steel baseplate
Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery, New York and Shanghai, Photographer: Stephen White
Date: 2015, Dimensions: 160 x 98 x 81 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, books, globe and steel baseplate :: Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, Photographer: Stephen White
Date: 2015, Dimensions: 232 x 175 x 112 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, carbon, aluminium, globe, leather and steel baseplate :: Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, Photographer: Stephen White
Date: 2015
Dimensions: 315 x 140 x 92 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, pocketwatch, plaster, polystyrene, globe, leather and steel baseplate
Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery, New York and Shanghai, Photographer: Stephen White
2015 Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, lightning, gun, globe, pointe shoes and steel baseplate
92 7/8 x 61 x 55 1/16 in. (236 x 155 x 140 cm)
Date: 2015 // Dimensions: 152 x 112 x 70 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, silk, metal, globe and steel baseplate
Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist and TAFETA, London, Photographer: Stephen White
Date: 2015 // Dimensions: 143 x 95 x 109 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, silk, metal, globe and steel baseplate ….. Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, Photographer: Stephen White
Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, lyre, sword, globe, pointe shoes and steel baseplate. 75 15/16 x 33 13/16 x 33 7/16 in. (193 x 86 x 85 cm) –
“In this new body of work, Shonibare contemplates the changing state of the Earth’s climate and the human instinct for survival in the face of the extreme weather experienced worldwide.
In Rage, the Greek gods Apollo, Zeus and Poseidon are depicted as ballerinas. These iconically male figures have been transformed into emblems of female grace, with detailed tutus made of Shonibare’s signature Dutch wax fabric. Yet these beautiful ballerina goddesses are dangerous, in a violent rage against humans for their willful and continual destruction of Earth. They carry deadly weapons—a gun, a knife and a sword—along with their familiar trident, thunder bolt and golden lyre. Their heads of Victorian-style globes map the occurrence of lightening, warming and tsunamis around the world.”
Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, trident, dagger, globe, pointe shoes and steel baseplate
82 1/4 x 87 x 35 3/8 in. (209 x 221 x 90 cm)
“Rage of the Ballet Gods sees Shonibare connecting with myth to find solace in the fantastical during an unnerving time. He hopes to provoke what the scholar Joseph Campbell called the “psychic unity of mankind,” which Campbell felt was engaged through the poetic expression of mythology. The artist reaches back to “an experience of the eternal source and returns with gifts powerful enough to set society free.”
Date: 2015
Dimensions: 410 x 122 x 80 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, Edwardian fine bone china teacup and saucer, wooden stilts, globe, leather and steel baseplate
Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist, Stephen Friedman Gallery and Peal Lam Galleries, Photographer: Jonathan Bassett
Dimensions: 315 x 88 x 120 cm
Fibreglass, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, pocketwatch, plaster, polystyrene, globe, leather and steel baseplate –
Pearl Lam Galleries, Photographer: Stephen White
Dimensions: 315 x 140 x 92 cm
Medium: Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, pocketwatch, plaster, polystyrene, globe, leather and steel baseplate
Photographer credit, image courtesy: Courtesy the artist and Pearl Lam Galleries, Photographer: Stephen White
Above ::
MISS UTOPIA, 2013 & MAGIC LADDER KID I (DETAIL), 2013, Commissioned by The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.
Left :: FLOWER POWER KID (SUICIDE) (DETAIL), 2013
For more check out write-up on Designboom.
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Bellerby & Co Globemakers, London
Modern and traditional bespoke globes, handcrafted and hand painted bespoke to order.
We ship worldwide from our London studio.
Each globe is one of a kind and can be personalised. We will work with you to finalise your choice of colouring, base style, base material and finish, and through the many options of customisation and personalisation.
Sizing from 12cm to 127cm diameter, desktop / tabletop and floor standing globes. Terrestrial and celestial.
