Nigerian-born, London-based and at work all over the world, Yinka Shonibare is the last word in transnational artists. And in the work he's best known for — headless mannequins in British colonial dress that's cut from African-style cloth that's actually made in the Netherlands — the very ideas of nationality and ethnic identity are constantly up for grabs. Full of deadpan meditations on the complexities of cultural identity, this was the funniest show of the year, even when the topic was dead serious.
The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N.Y., 6/26-9/20; on view at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, Washington, through 3/7/2010