Tinie Tempah and INSA discuss Chris Ofili

Art exhibitions elicit a multitude of opinions and appeal to different people for different reasons. It's therefore not a bad idea to think about producing more than one film about any given show. This is something I do at TateShots relatively frequently. Chris Ofili is currently showing at Tate Britain and so far we have put out two episodes on the subject, with another on the way.

The first features chart-topper Tinie Tempah touring the exhibition:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlXk8pR20xM?wmode=transparent]

And then there's this one, with graffiti artist INSA making an artwork in response to Chris's work:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz5oRDEBT_g?wmode=transparent]

Both of these films were directed and edited by Lorrin Braddick.

Tinie was fantastic to interview - it's been a while since I met somebody who was so visibly moved and excited by an exhibition, despite his very image-conscious exterior. He was in particular awe of The Upper Room, finding an immediate link between Ofili's layering style with the process of making a music track. This might seem like an obvious concept, even a cliche, to some people. But to fresh eyes it was a startling realisation, and one that will most likely be shared by the non-art audience who are watching the video purely because it stars their favourite crossover grime/dubstep MC...

INSA offers another perspective. He studied at Goldsmiths so he's very familiar with Chris Ofili's work, and contemporary art in general, even though he chooses to side-step the gallery system in favour of entrepreneurial enterprises, like his shoe business, or in appropriating the logos of multi-national fashion empires. He was interested in the titles Chris chose for his work and, as an artist, in working out how to respond visually to his favourite painting, The Holy Virgin Mary. (He'd been asked to contribute a new work for an event that took place in the gallery last weekend).

So one exhibition, two different films, and we have another on the way too, showing how Tate's conservation department works and using the example of how Tate's Chris Ofili works are being looked after whilst they are in our care (which is forever).