S otheby’s 10th auction of Modern & Contemporary African Art celebrates the very best of African creativity, including paintings, works on paper, sculpture, prints, and photographs by the best artists and makers working across the continent in the 20th and 21st centuries, with something for everyone at every price point. Highlights include exciting works by the African Masters Ben Enwonwu, Hassan El Glaoui, Uche Okeke, Yusuf Grillo and Gerard Sekoto; the CCA Lagos Benefit Auction, featuring 25 lots donated by some of the biggest name artists today including El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare CBE and Kehinde Wiley; Property from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Quincy Troupe, featuring the work of Ethiopian trailblazers Skunder Boghossian, Wosene Worke Kosrof and Tesfaye Tessema; alongside exciting emerging names such as Joanna Choumali, Isshaq Ismail, Oluwole Omofemi, and Adjani Okpu-Egbe, whose work will raise funds for The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), the acclaimed non-profit visual arts residency program in New York.
Since its inception in 2007, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA, Lagos) has been a meeting place for visionaries of all forms. The brainchild of curator extraordinaire Bisi Silva (1962-2019), CCA, Lagos serves as a home to young creative minds and is an unnegotiable resource for emerging artists from Africa. A pillar within the local art community, Sotheby’s is delighted to support this important institution by opening our auction with 25 lots to raise the funds needed to provide CCA, Lagos with a permanent home and to renovate the space to a world-class standard. This tour de force section of works is led by donations from some of the giants of contemporary art from the continent, including CCA Trustee El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Kehinde Wiley, Abdoulaye Konaté and Sokari Douglas Camp.
Born in London to Ghanaian parents, June Sarpong OBE is a British television presenter and author whose career and impact are hugely impressive. Her three books: Diversify, Power of Women and Power of Privilege which are all published by Harper Collins, are currently out on nationwide release - www.Diversify.org.
In November 2020 June was appointed as the BBC’s first Director of Creative Diversity.
Sotheby’s is delighted to present June’s top picks from the Modern & Contemporary African Art sale, as seen through her unique perspective.
As a TV presenter, I understand firsthand the impact visual mediums can have in changing hearts and minds, when I started in television over twenty years ago, I was one of the only Black female presenters of my generation on British TV, it wasn't lost on me that for a period of ten years (while I was the face of Channel 4's T4 programme) that I beamed every weekend into the homes of people who may not have personally encountered anyone like me right through to young girls who looked like me but had never seen their image presented in mainstream media. My lived experience as an outside/insider is what drives my love and passion for art, visual storytelling really does have the power to change the world and I'm thrilled to see so many of the names who are leading the current charge featured in this month's Sotheby's Contemporary African Art auction. It's a phenomenal list and I've had the pleasure of selecting some of the pieces that speak to me most. I'm the daughter of African immigrants and so much of the stories told in these pieces runs through my veins with pain, perserverance but most of all pride.
Read Less100% of the hammer price of Cameroonian artist Adjani Okpu-Egbe’s On Delegitimization and Solidarity: Sisiku AyukTabe, the Martin Luther King Jr. of Ambazonia, the Nera 10, and the Myth of Violent Africa will go to The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), the acclaimed non-profit visual arts residency program in New York, to fund career-enhancing residencies for artists from Africa. Founded in 1994, the ISCP supports the creative development of artists and curators, and promotes exchange through residencies and public programs. Housed in a former factory in Brooklyn, with 35 light-filled work studios, two galleries, and a project space, ISCP is New York’s most comprehensive international visual arts residency program, and has organized exhibitions, events and offsite projects, sustaining a vibrant community of contemporary art practitioners and diverse audiences for the past 27 years.
