The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2022 Benefit Auction | Hosted by Sotheby’s

Chris Soal

To make my form your own

No reserve

Reserves

Lot Closed

February 22, 05:26 PM GMT

Estimate

6,000 - 9,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Chris Soal

South African

b.1994

To make my form your own

burnt and unburnt bamboo and birch wood toothpicks, held in Polyurethane sealant on timber board

148 by 110 by 10cm., 58¼ by 43¼ by 4in.

Please be aware of the Conditions of Sale when bidding. As a benefit auction, there is no buyer’s premium charged. The only additional costs due to the winning bidder are applicable sales tax and shipping. Works auctioned are sold “as is,” and condition reports are included with lot descriptions as available. In-person previews of the auction artwork will be available at Norval Foundation at 4 Steenberg Rd, Tokai, Cape Town, 7945, South Africa from 26 January – 22 February, Monday to Sundays 9 AM – 5:00 PM (Closed on Tuesdays). Please note that while this auction is hosted on Sothebys.com, it is being administered by Norval Foundation (“the museum”), and all post-sale matters (inclusive of invoicing and property pickup/shipment) will be handled by the museum. As such, Sotheby’s will share the contact details for the winning bidders with the museum so that they may be in touch directly post-sale.

This work has been kindly donated by the artist

Chris Soal (b. 1994, South Africa) is an artist whose practice examines structural impacts on urban living, reflects on the politics of the individual in relation to the collective, and foregrounds ecological concerns. Through his poetic use of discarded and mundane ephemera, such as toothpicks and bottle caps, in conjunction with concrete, rebar, electric fencing cable and other industrial materials, Soal’s spatial approach to sculpture reveals a sensitivity to texture, light and form, expressed in an abstract minimalist language.

To make my form your own, encapsulates a hope that the encounter is one filled with empathy and provides a platform for a shift in perception around what is collectively valued. Sprawling out in every direction, presented as if having emerged from the very wall itself, the biomorphic abstraction of the work feels familiar despite initially appearing alien. Suggestive of animal pelts, organic growths and forms of coral, it highlights a paradoxical relationship of simultaneous domination of and dependence on nature.