For the Unknown Runner (2011)

Chris Ofili's fascinating and fantastical paintings draw on a variety of art and popular culture influences, including comic-book heroes, pornography, jazz and hip hop, 70's afro hairstyles and Blaxploitation movies. Perhaps most famous for the elephant dung his canvases rest on, Ofili's multi-layered, multi-patterned paintings are intricately worked and benefit from sustained scrutiny. Closer examination of his paintings can, however, also bring the unwanted kind of attention, as was the case at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, where the showing of his canvas 'The Virgin Mary' as part of 'Sensation' exhibition led to New York's then mayor Giuliani trying to shut down the show. Born in 1968 and educated at the Royal College of Art, Ofili lives and works in Trinidad.