I-5 Yinka Shonibare

Bronze (Orange, Yellow & Blue)

Overview

  • Discuss Bronze (Orange, Yellow & Blue) by Yinka Shonibare.
  • Learn about design, color, and 3D.
  • Create sculpted paper.

Reflection

  • What is the title of your artwork?
Bronze (Orange, Yellow & Blue) by Yinka Shonibare, 2021, Bronze sculpture, hand-painted with Dutch wax pattern, 55 x 105 x 60.5 cm, © Yinka Shonibare CBE. All Rights Reserved, DACS/ ARS, NY 2026

Discussion Presentation

Discussion Questions

What country might sell fabric with this pattern?
Design involves line, color, texture, & shape. This fabric is sold by Dutch as African batik design that is actually Indonesian. Shonibare highlights how products can be a complex mix of global cultures.

This fabric is likely to be seen in which season?
An artist’s color palette is a group of colors that may be bright or soft or dark and create a sense of warmth or coolness. Colors can remind us of the seasons, copying the way weather feels outside.

Bronze metal is heavy, why does this look so light?
The fabric design tricks the mind into thinking the art isn’t heavy. The folds give it form and make the bronze look like it just “blew in the wind” and settled upon the pedestal.

Biography

  • Yinka Shonibare (YIN-ka shoh-nee-BAR-ay) is a Nigerian-British artist from England.
  • He cemented fame in early 2000s for using bright “African” fabrics to dress his headless sculptures in addressing global colonialism.
  • His artworks showcase how different cultures are constantly mixing and influencing each other.
  • His fabrics are “African” batik. The twist?
  • The fabrics w inspired by Indonesian designs, made by the Dutch, and sold to West Africans.
  • History is more “tangled” than it looks.

1962-present: Born in London and raised in Nigeria, Yinka Shonibare is a “post-colonial hybrid”. Despite suffering paralysis from transverse myelitis at age eighteen, he studied at Goldsmiths and became a celebrated, CBE-awarded international artist.

Shonibare’s work is characterized by bright, colorful “African” batik fabrics to explore complex themes of colonialism, race, and class. This textile, though associated with West Africa, was actually inspired by Indonesian designs and manufactured by the Dutch. By utilizing these materials, he illustrates how global cultures are interconnected and “tangled,” challenging traditional narratives of identity and history within the modern abstract art genre to question who gets remembered in history books.

The British Library features 6,000 books bound in Shonibare’s signature colorful batik fabrics. This masterpiece celebrates how immigrants have shaped history while questioning who is remembered. The use of global textiles reinforces his style of mixing cultures to reveal complex, interconnected past.

Student Gallery

Project

Materials
  • 6×9 white paper
  • 6×9 slate paper
  • 3.5×8.5 cardstock
  • watercolors
  • watercolor brush
  • 2 paper towels (use one under white paper)
  • water dish
  • scissors
  • white glue
Warm Up & Brainstorm
  • No warmup required.
Project Directions

Sculpted Paper

1. Make pedestal.
Cut 3.5×8.5 cardstock into a trapezoid. Align it on the bottom edge of 6×9 gray paper, glue, and set aside.

2. Color wash paper on both sides.
Lay 6×9 white paper on a paper towel. Paint color and flip paper over. Painting should take 2-3 minutes.

3. Create fabric design.
Paint bold fabric design. Blot excess wet areas to lessen color bleeding when adding line or shape details.

4. Sculpt paper fabric.
Blot excess wet areas. Paper should feel damp, not wet. Explore arranging paper fabric on the pedestal paper, not in the air.
Tip: Cut fabric edges and corners a bit if form looks too rectangular.

5. Attach sculpted paper.
Glue down paper fabric where it sits on the pedestal.

6. Give artwork a title.

Pre-Lesson Preparation
  • Pre-prep: cut cardstock into thirds: 3.5×8.5 in.
Day of Lesson Setup
  •  Project time: 2/3 watercolor and 1/3 sculpting.
  • Demo painting white paper. Back side is one watery color. Front side is colorful fabric design.
  • Demo blotting excess water and sculpting paper fabric.
  • Tip: vertical sculpting may need support while drying. Provide temporary support using random objects or balled up paper. Remove when sculpture is dry.
  • Idea: cut angular corners from the 90-degree corners of the paper fabric to help create interesting forms.
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Lesson Handouts

Additional Resources

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