In May 2017 Chris Ofili was at a gathering on the Lido in Venice, following the opening of an exhibition, when he was told a young artist wanted to meet him. Ofili, 54, cuts a lean, muscular figure, but with more salt than pepper in his hair, he is feeling his years professionally. “When you get to this age you’re a little bit disconnected from the younger group,” he says. “And I thought, ‘That’s really nice. Somebody would actually formally like to meet me.’”
Image: Chris Ofili, Requiem, 2023 (detail) commissioned for Tate Britain’s north staircase
© Chris Ofili
Courtesy the artist
Photograph: Thierry Bal
September 12 2023
