--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Chris Ofili by David Adjaye: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7840acc4c2eecb57/6987eafdcd684875d209d7ff/chris-ofili-time-100-2015-artists.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 15, 2015 # Chris Ofili by David Adjaye  Ian Allen for TIME Chris Ofili’s extraordinary talent is to speak about contemporary issues through the romance of painting. He achieved early success in London—winning the Turner Prize and representing Britain at the Venice Biennale—almost as soon as he emerged. With works like _No Woman, No Cry_ and _The Holy Virgin Mary_, both breathtaking and controversial in equal measure, he positioned himself as an artist who could redefine art practice by affirming the relevance of painting for the 21st century. Since moving to Trinidad, he has drawn inspiration from the island, its natural beauty and its distinct cultural tropes. Incredibly, he has re-emerged with an equally powerful relevance. In his work, he seeks to speak to political issues; his is a social imperative. He asks questions about our time through intoxicating visual compositions that examine peripheral modernities and enable us to make sense of our world. _Adjaye is an award-winning Ghanaian-British architect_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822991/chris-ofili-2015-time-100/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822991/chris-ofili-2015-time-100/"},"headline":"Chris Ofili","datePublished":"2015-04-15T16:05:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:29.464Z","description":"Visionary painter","url":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822991/chris-ofili-2015-time-100/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7840acc4c2eecb57/6987eafdcd684875d209d7ff/chris-ofili-time-100-2015-artists.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7840acc4c2eecb57/6987eafdcd684875d209d7ff/chris-ofili-time-100-2015-artists.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822991/chris-ofili-2015-time-100/","name":"Chris Ofili"}}]}] ```