Lot 14: DIPO ANDY

DIPO ANDY B. 1975 COLOR GENOME PROJECT BARCODE # 26 SIGNED AND DATED 2008 LOWER MIDDLE ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 200 by 200 cm.; 78 3/4 by 78 3/4 in.

Dipo Andy gives a new significance to the concept of pop-art and commercialism and reinvestigates its relevance in the 21υst century with the Colour Genome Project series. In doing so, the artist also redefines the manner in perceiving art. Deriving his concept from the barcode and the Human Genome Project, Dipo alludes to the commercialism of popular culture that transforms celebrities into products and questions the future of this path of thought. With the progress of science, humankind has the power to select the genetic make-up of the next generation and the artist postulates that celebrities, whether in the world of Hollywood, politics, business or science, because of their skills, appearance or popularity, will be the prime candidates to brand.

Each painting in the Colour Genome Project has its own serial number, which is unique to the subject matter. The key to decrypting this sequence lies in RNA and DNA codes that the artist converts into his own language to indicate the work's details, from gender, race, continent of origin, primary colours to the painting's production number and year of completion. Dipo Andy envisages his work the way barcodes identify products: the paintings will be able to explain themselves in their own pictorial language, wherever and whenever they are presented. As the artist himself puts it, "I am not painting portraits of celebrated personages merely for the sake of it, but rather to give their idol status a different meaning in the social context, as well as to examine their significance within the interest of global economy."