Overvalued/Undervalued: On Offer in Chelsea

Chris Ofili: Overvalued?
Chris Ofili, the Turner Prize winner who famously outraged then Mayor Rudy Guiliani with his dung-anointed Virgin Mary in 1999, is still a star. But like Giorgio de Chirico and Fernando Botero, he seems to have made a titanic misstep in turning from painting to sculpture, at least judging from this sorry batch of large-scale, matte-and-shiny bronzes.

Ofili has sexed up biblical characters like Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, engaging them in three-dimensional carnal acts quite au contraire to their reputations. Here, a bearded black angel with giant wings locks loins with a voluptuous Virgin Mary, her high-shine gold patina mixing wonderfully with his matte finish.

But the work’s ambitious production values seem ecologically wasteful, and there’s little bang for the buck: This overblown work from an edition of three would set you back at least $400,000 (Zwirner does not reveal its prices). I would hold on to that wire transfer ’til you find a real blue-chip contender. Chris Ofili, "Annunciation" (2006), at David Zwirner through November 3

Courtesy Chris Ofili/Afroco and David Zwirner