Born in Manchester to Nigerian parents, Chris Ofili (b.1968) rose to prominence in the 1990s as part of the Young British Artists (YBAs) generation with visually rich, multi-layered canvases reflecting on Black identity, race and spirituality. Winning the Turner Prize in 1998, he has since relocated from London to Trinidad, where the island’s lush landscapes have provided new inspiration. Whereas his earlier paintings often combined resin, glitter, collage and elephant dung, Ofili’s recent works are more restrained in their use of materials, though they are no less expansive or sensuous.

Greek mythology has been a longstanding interest for Ofili who has mined its stories for several significant bodies of work. This painting amalgamates two myths: The Judgement of Paris, and Actaeon and Diana from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In the first, Paris, a young prince of Troy, must decide which of three goddesses is the fairest. Each offers a bribe: Hera promises riches, Athena proffers victory in battle, and Aphrodite pledges the love of the world’s most beautiful woman, Helen of Sparta. Paris’s decision to choose Aphrodite leads to Helen’s abduction, which in turn triggers the Trojan War. The second myth tells of Actaeon the hunter accidentally stumbling across the goddess Diana bathing with her nymphs. For his punishment, he was transformed into a stag and hunted down.

In Ofili’s picture, two figures appear lost amidst variegated clouds. One, with horns protruding from its head (suggestive of Actaeon’s transformation) clasps its hands together, while the other, at the bottom right, watches passively from a distance. Smaller, nymph-like creatures swirl around them, as do plant forms and droplets resembling colourful gemstones. In bringing together these ancient tales, which both recount downfalls precipitated by unconstrained erotic desires, the artist reminds us how our proclivities can make us vulnerable to exploitation and unintended consequences.