Chris Ofili... A watercolour tapestry?

WEAVING MAGIC AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY

Would you believe it? A contemporary tapestry based on a watercolour painting?

I urge you to go see this small but cool exhibition at the National Gallery (and it's free!). When you come into the gallery turn right and go into the dark room and watch the short documentary on the process of creating the tapestry. Spoiler alert... It took 3 years to make! The gallery wallpaper is also designed by Ofili, taken from his backdrop for the Royal Opera House. The curvaceous figures on the wallpaper entice the viewer into the room, it is the similarity of style that helps to set the scene for his tapestry.

This triptych takes from the tradition of classical antiquity with it's Renaissance-like narrative. We read the tapestry from left to right. It starts with a greek goddess (below) who draws back the curtain to the scene, giggling it seems to herself mischievously as if we too will soon know her secret. She holds a small branch with berries or fruit, perhaps symbolising the seed that she has planted. Meanwhile there is a storm approaching in the top left corner, foreshadowing the disruption it will cause to the middle scene.

Here in the middle panel, a pair of lovers laze on the sand with a eerily still sea behind them, blissfully unaware of what is to come. The male figure has his hand intertwined between the limbs of the female figure while playing his lyre. meanwhile the woman coyly gazes into her glass of bubbly. The bubbles from her drink float up towards the sky, where we see Balotelli, who plays the part of a cocktail maker and a God-like figure. (Random, but ok.)

The final panel shows an angel within a landscape that resembles rocks or clouds; he holds a birdcage and is in motion as if he is approaching the couple to trap them or put an end to their freedom. Either way the couple cannot escape the inevitability of time and what fate has in store for them.