Aspire Art Auctions and the French auction house Piasa collaborated for a second time to present a large scale auction of Modern and Contemporary African art – this time in Paris

A healthy and stable market

The auction took place last night, Wednesday 24 June, and although the fallout of COVID-19 has resulted in extraordinary social and economic changes and challenges the world over, the resounding strength of the auction demonstrates that despite present difficulties, the art market remains robust. Although the bullish prices that have peppered the market on occasion have declined, and which often obscure readings of the sector’s actual standing, the sale’s sturdy results indicate a healthy market holding steady. Moreover, it demonstrates that art trading has resumed successfully, and that borders reopening and restrictions being relaxed globally bodes well for the future of the market.

Aspire and Piasa have put together an impressive collection of 173 artworks by 85 artists from 19 African countries that went under the hammer last night.  

At a time when the world seems to be larger and more divided than before, this auction is a crowning example of what can be accomplished in these trying times, especially by virtue of innovation and collaboration. Not only did it grow Aspire’s reach and status as the first auction house on the African continent to champion modern and contemporary art from Africa in Europe, but also provides an unmistakable reminder that top-quality art remains resilient in the face of adversity.

Top lots

The auction was led by the cover lot; William Kentridge’ s important 1989 drawing from Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City after Paris (Soho Eating) which sold for €234,000. Another mixed media work by Kentridge Electrical Industries (Rodchenko), Alphabet Coloré sold for €18,200, almost three times its high estimate.

Joseph Ntensibe’s large-scale dreamlike depiction of tropical greenery stole the show when it sold for more than double its high estimate at an impressive €67,600, the second highest price achieved at auction for this artist. The Ugandan artist’s concern with ecology and the changing environment, and in particular the disappearing forests in rural Uganda, resonated with many bidders.

Irma Stern’s exquisite 1943 portrait of Dora Sowden, the eccentric music and arts critic for the Johannesburg-based progressive newspaper The Rand Daily Mail during the 1940s and 1950s achieved €182,000. A rare and early bronze sculpture by Edoardo Villa, Figure with Drapery, attracted substantial interest realising a stellar €54,600 – a historic record for a work by this artist sold in his native Europe.

Records

A new world auction record (for a single work) by David Goldblatt was achieved for a rare platinum print – A miner waits on the bank to go underground, City Deep Gold Mine, 1996 – which sold for €32,500.

Zimbabwean artists fared well too. Kudzanai Chiurai’s mixed media work Untitled VIII (Auto and the Workers Movement) sold for €22,100 and Fountain by painter Misheck Masamvu, an artist relatively new to the secondary market, sold for €20,800, toppling his previous auction record also set by Aspire.

Highlitghs

Peter Clarke’s powerful triptych, The Crossing from 1987, impressed serious collectors and achieved a firm €37,700. This was the first time that a work by this prominent South African artist appeared on auction in mainland Europe.

Paintings by renowned Congolese painter Chéri Samba sold well – Lutte Contre Les Moustiques sparked competitive bidding and achieved €58,500 – almost double the high estimate.

Young starEddy Kamuanga Ilunga (from the DRC) proved that he remains one of the artists to watch when his impressive large scale painting sold for €50,700.

Contemporary African Art auction

On June 24th

Piasa Paris VIEW THE FULL RESULTS

118 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré

Paris, France

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What makes a portrait? What do we uncover through creations and recreations of our own image? As the beauty of each image is revealed, so are the limitations of language.

This exhibition explores the idea of portraiture as a tool for charting the psychological make-up of the human subject.

Dr Ernst van der Waal

It coalesces works by thirteen South African artists who, through their work,  wrestle with notions of the self. It includes traditional types of portraiture (painted and etched) punctuated by contorted and disorienting works —Marlene Steyn’s in her feel her out her face mask (2019), an oil on canvas painting, depicts a woman’s face, she has blue hair and is wearing a  blue and white striped t-shirt or sweater. The woman’s face encompasses multiple figures and at least nine sets of eyes are visible —peculiar repetition. The image is alluring and perplexing.

Works take on different styles; from the John Murray’s clean and compelling acrylic works, Georgina Gratrix’s self portrait of altered proportions, Mostaff Muchawaya deep and tactile outline to Alexis Preller’s muted brushstrokes and palette —an all embracing rendering.

Portraiture is one such way of grappling with the human exterior (of grazing the surface of the body and to translate the traces of emotion into marks on canvas or a piece of paper), whilst also delving deeper, trying to peel away the layers of the human subject to explore its inner workings.

Dr Ernst van der Waal

Portraiture holds a very precarious position within the history of art —beginning at a time when portraits (particularly painted portraits) were reserved for the privileged few to of course now; a time when self capturing has become ubiquitous following wide accessibility of the camera. Between these two extremes, we find a language that allows us to consider deeply what it means to see ourselves and others through imagery —this becomes an inquiry into notions of beauty, desire, the self and the soul.

The complete list of participating artists includes; Albert Adams, Braam Kruger, Peter Clarke, Christo Coetzee, Kate Gottgens, Georgina Gratrix, Johann Louw, Mostaff Muchawaya, John Murray, Alexis Preller, Gerard Sekoto, Marlene Steyn and Simon Stone. Works will be on view until April 19th.

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“Far from the reaches of frivolity–a domain to which fashion is usually relegated–Black people have continually engaged the fashion object beyond its utilitarian functions into a device of pride, protection, resistance and camouflage,”— states curator Dario Calmese.

Featuring work by 14 artists,  the new exhibition “Fashioning the Black Body” surveys how fashion, style, and the garment act as devices of investigative storytelling.

As a form of identification, self-actualization, and agency, the select artists engage the fashion object from various points of its ontogeny. In turn, Fashioning the Black Body becomes a dialogue about space: the space between black skin and cloth, the space that exists between the historically commodified and fetishized black body, and the space claimed for one’s self-defined identity.

Featured artists include: Bisa Butler, Soly Cissé, Renee Cox, David Antonio Cruz, Kenturah Davis, Hassan Hajjaj, Basil Kincaid, Mario Moore, Chris Ofili, Fahamu Pecou, Katherine Simóne Reynolds, Jacolby Satterwhite, Stan Squirewell, Mickalene Thomas, and Kehinde Wiley.

Through the work of these artists, the Black body is transubstantiated into a semipermeable membrane between the gaze and the contents it holds–and more concretely–the tenuous distances between who we are, who we want to be, and how we are perceived.

The curator of the event Dario Calmese is an artist working in photography whose practice includes live performance, video, and text. He received his master’s in photography from School of Visual Arts and his bachelor’s in psychology at Rockhurst University in Kansas City. Classically trained in the performing arts, he uses his knowledge of movement, gesture, and psychology to create characters and narratives that explore history, race, class, and what it means to be human.

“Fashioning the Black Body” opens this Friday, March 15 and will remain on view through May 4. A talk with curator Dario Calmese and artists Kenturah Davis, Basil Kincaid and Katherine Simóne Reynolds — moderated by Rikki Byrd — will take place at the gallery this Saturday, March 16 at 11 a.m.

*Images courtesy of projects+gallery.

→ For more information, visit projects+gallery’s website.

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Self-taught, he has developed his own theory of movement and architecture, today resulting in an artistic form on the crossroads between performance, sculpture and new media. As keen on linguistics as he is on physical theatre (Ecole Jacques Lecoq), he follows logical systems that are non-linear and self-sufficient, and which are often best understood when they are connected with each other. His work is generally based on techniques inspired from religious rites and rituals,ranging from butō to the ballroom, new technologies or hypnosis.  

The artist’s performance is part of the Palais de Tokyo de Paris programme entitled “La Manutention – Performers in residence”.Launched in 2017, la Manutention is a new format that welcomes and encourages exploration and experimentation, providing artists the opportunity to develop their practices and produces original performances at the occasion of four performatives evenings for one month, giving visitors the opportunity to discover the artists’ world and an occasion to follow the evolution of their ongoing work

*The event can be accessed only upon presentation of an entry ticket.

→ Ticket access / Palais de Tokyo

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The Architect David Adjaye will design Ghana’s first Venice biennale Pavillon.

Here is an extract of the article.

“Being able to show the diversity and creativity of Ghana on an international scale is an incredible achievement,” said the British architect in a statement. It also showcases the breadth of the nation’s artistic talent, he continued. Adjaye himself is no stranger to pavilion design, having created nearly 10 in recent years; his first at the Biennale was a 2003 collaboration with artist Chris Ofili for Britain. In 2017, AD revealed a backyard pavilion he designed for Design Miami founder Craig Robins’s home in South Beach, Florida. And most recently, he put out a call for augmented-reality architecture proposals to run alongside this year’s annual Serpentine Pavilion in London, to be built by Japanese architect Junya Ishigami. (Adjaye is a Serpentine trustee and was part of the team that selected West African architect Diébédo Francis Kéré for the 2017 design.)

Read the full article –> Architectural Digest

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Ornate 19^thcentury combs from the Democratic Republic of the Congo on loan from a renowned African art dealer. Art direction by the visionary curator of a young contemporary art gallery; photography by one of the rising stars she represents. Three models and one inspired winter day in a Paris studio.

These creative and material forces come together in “Kisanola by Djeneba Aduayom,” a riveting series of portraits, four of which debut this week at the Brafa Art Fair in Brussels. Black models with crowns of natural hair radiate a deep and knowing power: each is adorned with the combs and shiny gold objects, looking love-ready, battle-ready, ceremony-ready, world-ready. The images are ethereal, at once vintage, contemporary and futuristic.

The idea for the photo-series came from Brussels-based curator Marie Gomis-Trezise. She recently founded Galerie Number 8, which represents emerging artists whose work examines identity, representation and the human condition. While browsing at Brafa last year, she came across the vast collection of Didier Claes, owner of the eponymous gallery celebrated for its exquisite collection of African art. A revelation begat a vision.

“I had an aversion to African antiques because I associated them with the colonial grab in Africa and had seen them bastardized so often in popular culture,” Gomis-Trezise explains. “But when I saw Didier’s collection, I was stunned. The beauty and power of the objects is overwhelming.” 
She knew immediately that she wanted to work with him on a series of images shot by a contemporary photographer, using traditional African art. She approached Claes, who loved the idea and proposed using combs from the DRC for the shoot.

“I couldn’t say no to this adventure. My personal collection also includes works by contemporary artists that meld seamlessly with the older pieces. I feel strongly that the mixing of ancient and contemporary art is logical and wise. It is a surprising combination that works perfectly.” Claes remembers.

For the shoot, Claes chose several combs in the Chokwe, Yaka, Luba and Lélé styles from Central Africa. The intricate carvings atop the combs reflect their prestige and the elaborate tastes and customs of the members of high society who used them. Carved from a single piece of wood, they feature decorative motifs, figurative themes and symbolism. For example, the number of teeth indicate the status of the society with which the comb is associated, and geometric incisions and engraved patterns carry coded messages.

“Kisanola by Djeneba Aduayom” celebrates the combs as instruments in the keeping of those cherished exchanges and of the culture hair upholds.

The choice of combs for the shoot – as opposed to masks or other traditional African objects – was significant. In many African societies, the doing of hair is highly important and involves an intimate exchange between the stylist and the styled. And the hairstyle itself is as much about beauty as it is about identity, culture and status. “Kisanola by Djeneba Aduayom” celebrates the combs as instruments in the keeping of those cherished exchanges and of the culture hair upholds.

“My vision was to create something sculptural and modern using these amazing artefacts. I was inspired by the details in the wood figures. The combs are part of a rich, ancient cultural tradition and I wanted to add a modern twist to the mix.” Djenaba Aduayom

The photostory takes its name from kisanola, the Lingala word for comb, and its French-Togolese photographer, Djeneba Aduayom. A former dancer, Aduayom’s photographs maximize the expressive power and beauty of the human figure. For Kisanola, her eye for mood and grandeur defines each image. Aduayom recalls, “My vision was to create something sculptural and modern using these amazing artefacts. I was inspired by the details in the wood figures. The combs are part of a rich, ancient cultural tradition and I wanted to add a modern twist to the mix.”

It was Aduayom who introduced the metal wire to the models’ styling “to create simple structures with the hair and combs, securing the combs, but also creating a ‘sculptural cage’ for them,” she said. “The metal adds shine and sophistication because gold is by nature associated with prestige, elegance, something of value.” She also liked the contrast created by the wood of the combs and the metal.

“For me personally though, the project became a kind of reconciliation with African antiques.” Marie Gomis-Trezise

Aduayom has always had a very personal and contextual relationship to African artefacts that shows in the honorific way she incorporated them into the portraits. She grew up surrounded by her mother’s extensive collection of African objects and knew intimately the history, provenance and significance of each. “African objects are a part of my heritage,” she says.

For Gomis-Trezise that emotional connection was forged in producing the shoot. “The idea was to make something beautiful, a sort of rediscovery and reconsideration of things that have always been around us,” she said. “For me personally though, the project became a kind of reconciliation with African antiques. It gave me a chance to interact with their beauty and culture and appreciate up close how important they are and how crucial it is to protect them, even return them to Africa.”

Although all parties to the collaboration set out foremost to make something beautiful, they have given us far more than that. Kisanola is an artistic testament to the timelessness and staying power of a people and a culture. As Claes notes: “Although African art was established years ago, it continues to inspire us.”

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