Chris Ofili and the long arc of his major mural Requiem
Published on 08/29/2026 at 17:28 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Chris Ofili has built one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary painting, spanning shimmering canvases, drawings and monumental installations. His mural Requiem at Tate Britain’s North Staircase extends this arc into a long-duration commission that folds memory, loss and Black British history into a single architectural gesture, as Tate Britain’s project description notes.
The mural Requiem at Tate Britain
At Tate Britain in London, Requiem occupies the North Staircase as a permanent mural, commissioned by the museum as a poetic reflection on the building’s history and the legacy of painter Chris Ofili’s friend and fellow artist Hurvin Anderson. The work unfolds over multiple levels, surrounding visitors as they ascend and descend with intensely colored, dream-like imagery that merges figures, landscape and abstraction.
ArtRabbit describes Requiem as a ‘dream-like mural’ arising from Ofili’s reflections on the institution and its histories, emphasizing how the commission turns a circulation space into an immersive environment. Tate Britain’s material on Ofili’s practice adds that his paintings and works on paper often entwine ornament, myth and references to Caribbean and diasporic cultures, a language now scaled up across the stairwell.
Work series and long gestation pieces
Victoria Miro highlights how Ofili’s practice also develops in long arcs, with works such as Our Times: Hunters in pink shade lure butterflies into their griffin’s chain link lair taking shape over roughly a decade. The gallery notes that this painting, completed between 2015 and 2026, absorbs years of experiences and influences, echoing the sustained attention visible in Requiem and other large-scale projects.
In the viewing-room text for Our Times: Hunters in pink shade lure butterflies into their griffin’s chain link lair, Victoria Miro describes the work as one of two related paintings presented with Victoria Miro and David Zwirner, balancing intricate figuration and pattern. This capacity to hold narratives over extended periods has become a hallmark of Ofili’s series-based working method, from early canvases with collage and resin to recent meditations on myth and sin.
All news and background on Chris Ofili
For more reporting on Chris Ofili’s exhibitions, long-duration works and critical reception, explore additional coverage from the AD HOC NEWS archive.
The Seven Deadly Sins and sinfulness
In 2023, Victoria Miro presented The Seven Deadly Sins, a major series of paintings in London completed over six years, which the gallery characterizes as an expansive meditation on sin and the complex experience of sinfulness. These works extend Ofili’s long-standing interest in moral narratives and religious iconography, bringing biblical themes into contact with contemporary psychological landscapes.
The series treats each of the seven sins as a distinct painterly universe, weaving together patterned grounds, stylized bodies and symbolic motifs, according to the exhibition description. Across the group, viewers see how Ofili’s sense of ornament and color remains tied to questions of human behavior, desire and restraint, echoing the emotional registers that inform Requiem and his other large-format pieces.
How the artist’s practice is structured
Chris Ofili works primarily in painting, often combining richly pigmented surfaces with drawing, collage and, in earlier works, unconventional materials such as resin, glitter and, famously, elephant dung, as Tate Britain’s survey texts recall. Over time he has shifted toward more atmospheric, myth-infused compositions, while keeping a strong emphasis on ornament, pattern and layered storytelling.
Where the artist stands now
Against this backdrop, Chris Ofili’s practice currently centers on sustained series and institutional commissions such as Requiem, with no newly announced date falling into a narrow 30-day window but a continuing presence in major museum and gallery programs.
Key facts on Chris Ofili
- Artist: Chris Ofili
- Medium / Genre: Painting and mixed media (figurative, myth-influenced)
- Born: 1968, London, United Kingdom
- Place(s) of practice: Studio based between the United Kingdom and Trinidad, as widely noted in institutional biographies.
- Active since: Early 1990s, with breakthrough visibility following his inclusion in exhibitions of Young British Artists.
- Key work groups: Requiem (Tate Britain mural), The Seven Deadly Sins series, long-gestation paintings such as Our Times: Hunters in pink shade lure butterflies into their griffin’s chain link lair, and earlier richly ornamented canvases that incorporated collage and non-traditional materials.
- Current/last exhibition: Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, Barbican Art Gallery, London, June 11 - September 6, 2026, featuring work by Chris Ofili among more than 300 pieces related to Pan-Africanism.
- Major collections: Tate (London), Studio Museum in Harlem (New York), and other leading institutions that have collected his work, as noted by Victoria Miro and institutional biographies.
- Awards: Turner Prize 1998, as documented in Tate’s and other institutional summaries of his career.
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Chris Ofili
Where can I experience Chris Ofili’s mural Requiem?
ArtRabbit and Tate Britain describe Requiem as installed on the North Staircase at Tate Britain in London, transforming the stairwell into a dream-like environment that visitors encounter as they move through the museum.
What characterizes Chris Ofili’s series The Seven Deadly Sins?
Victoria Miro presents The Seven Deadly Sins as a major group of paintings completed over six years, offering an expansive meditation on sin and the complex experience of sinfulness through richly patterned, symbolically charged compositions.
How does Chris Ofili’s long-gestation painting Our Times relate to his wider practice?
Victoria Miro notes that Our Times: Hunters in pink shade lure butterflies into their griffin’s chain link lair, completed between 2015 and 2026, absorbs a decade of experiences and influences, mirroring the sustained attention and layered narratives that define Ofili’s broader body of work.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
