# Chris Ofili artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/chris-ofili/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T14:01:08.739Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1968-10-10
- Nationality: British
- Movements: Young British Artists
- Common media: Painting, Mixed-media painting incorporating materials such as oil paint, resin, beads, glitter, elephant dung, and cut-paper collage, Sculpture, Photography

## About Chris Ofili

Chris Ofili, born in Manchester in 1968, is a British artist best known for paintings with densely worked, unconventional surfaces. Institutional authority records identify him principally as a painter and also record roles as a sculptor and photographer. His paintings may combine oil paint with resin, beads, glitter, collage, and elephant dung, making their physical construction central to how the works are described and assessed. Getty records characterize part of his output as abstract and identify the Virgin Mary among his documented subjects. Ofili emerged in the context of the Young British Artists and received the Turner Prize in 1998. Collectors encounter his name through museum artist records and a substantial body of secondary-market listings. Because his formats and material combinations vary, reliable identification depends on the specific work, its documentation, and an exact account of its medium rather than on the artist's name alone.

## Common works and media

Ofili is chiefly encountered as a painter. Documented materials include oil paint, resin, beads, glitter, elephant dung, and cut-paper collage, sometimes combined in highly textured compositions. Getty also documents abstract paintings and a work centered on the Virgin Mary. Authority records identify sculptor and photographer roles, but this source pack does not establish how frequently those formats reach auction; examples should therefore be classified individually rather than assumed to be common.

## Market and appraisal context

Chris Ofili's market should be approached work by work. Paintings and materially complex mixed-media paintings are the clearest auction categories supported by the collected evidence. An appraisal should record every stated material and examine the condition of layered surfaces, attachments, collage elements, and other nontraditional components. Subject matter may also help distinguish a work within his broader practice, particularly where religious imagery is involved. Comparable sales are most useful when they concern a similar work type and medium; an undifferentiated artist-wide result can be misleading. The present source pack confirms auction-record availability but does not include detailed auction-house cataloguing or enough realized-price evidence to support a price trend, scarcity claim, or forecast.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist-identity research with auction records and, when available, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots. These inputs support research and appraisal context but do not replace examination of the individual work, its condition, attribution, and documentation.

## Sources

- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500057423
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1077608
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/7967
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Ofili
- Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Ofili
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/chris-ofili/