Perspectives on Africa
Live Virtual Auction, 17 February 2025
Perspectives on Africa
About the SessionStrauss & Co is pleased to present Perspectives on Africa, a sale that explores the complexity, beauty, and fluidity of perspectives through African art and works by artists with strong ties to the continent. The sale coalesces the rich and varied connections between Africa and its artistic expressions, presenting works that span figuration, landscape, and abstraction, inviting collectors to engage with powerful narratives emerging from Africa's evolving perspectives. The works reflect layered meanings, both as a method of representing depth and dimension as a way of framing our understanding of the world. Work by Contemporary artists reflects on the historical foundations of Modernist artists, exploring themes such as identity, belonging, urbanisation, and re-encounters with tradition, while the sale transitions to Modernist interpretations of Africa, exploring the complexity of colonial encounters, post-independence aspirations, and indigenous practices. Building on Strauss & Co’s commitment to developing a strong local photography market, the sale includes an artist focus on the work of social documentarian Paul Alberts, whose images captured poignant narratives of everyday life, particularly in Cape Town. These works sit alongside David Goldblatt and Zanele Muholi, whose visceral images explore themes of identity, social justice and the multifaceted realities of African life.
About this Item
signed and dated 2020
Provenance
SMAC, Cape Town.
Private Collection.
Exhibited
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, SMAC Solo Booth, Black, Painting, Flag, Monument, 14 February to 16 February 2020.
Notes
The present lot formed part of Alexandra Karakashian’s dynamic installation at the 2020 Cape Town Art Fair. Her solo booth comprised four stretched canvases, an ersatz flag and two stacks of folded works, all in the same keynote of black. Her presentation extended on formal strategies and themes refined throughout the 2010s. A former assistant to Penny Siopis, Karakashian’s artistic journey is defined by her innovative use of unconventional materials like engine oil, gunpowder and charcoal. Their unwieldy nature makes them volatile agents, requiring the artist to embrace uncertainty and change. Her striking work explores themes of displacement, memory and impermanence, influenced by her family’s history during the Armenian genocide and her consistent engagement with the colour black as a symbol of mourning, resistance and transformation.1
1 Sean O’Toole (2020) Black, Painting, Flag, Monument, exhibition pamphlet, Cape Town: SMAC.
View all Alexandra Karakashian lots for sale in this auction