The Saatchi Assortment—amassed by the headline-hitting UK collector Charles Saatchi—has consigned a large-scale set up by the Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama to Bonhams public sale home in London. The piece Untitled (2013), consisting of 11 draped coal sacks made out of jute fibre, has an estimate of £30,000 to £50,000.
The work, which is presently displayed on Charles Saatchi’s web site, shall be provided within the Trendy and modern artwork sale (16 October). It was first proven within the exhibition Pangaea: New Artwork from Africa to Latin America on the Saatchi Gallery in King’s Street, London, and is on show at Bonhams, New Bond Road, till 29 August.
Helene Love-Allotey, head of Bonhams’ Trendy and modern African Artwork Division, says in a press release: “It’s a piece that heralds Ibrahim Mahama’s early deep curiosity in how textiles have been recycled and repurposed and what will be drawn from the historical past of the threads and the reminiscences embedded in them.” Final October, Mahama’s work AJ-10100 (2013-14), a single coal sack piece, fetched £17,920 (with charges) at Bonhams.
Who’s Ibrahim Mahama?
Earlier this yr Mahama unveiled the work Purple Hibiscus on the Barbican Centre in London, which lined the waterfront façade of the brutalist construction
Ibrahim Mahama together with his work, Untitled (2013) at Bonhams, New Bond Road, London. Courtesy of Bonhams
Mahama is thought for his huge tapestries of sewn-together jute sacks that he drapes over whole buildings. These have included theatres, luxurious residences and social housing tasks in his native Ghana, in addition to two exterior partitions of the Arsenale on the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, and Kassel’s historic Torwache (guard buildings) for Documenta 14 in 2017.
The jute sacks he makes use of are made in Asia and imported to Ghana to move cocoa beans and rice to Europe, America and elsewhere. They’re then typically reused many occasions to hold feed, coal and charcoal across the nation for home consumption, earlier than being lastly repurposed by Mahama on the finish of their working life, illustrating the complicated commerce networks of the worldwide economic system and post-independence Ghana.
Earlier this yr Mahama unveiled the work Purple Hibiscus on the Barbican Centre in London. The piece, made of two,000 sq. metres of woven fabric, lined the waterfront façade of the brutalist construction, making a vivid distinction towards the gray constructing and sky.
Has the Saatchi assortment bought different works?
Different current public sale gross sales from the Saatchi assortment embody Stella Vine’s portray Hello Paul Can You Come Over? (2003) which fetched £11,700 (with charges; estimate £600-£900) final September at Roseberys public sale home in West Norwood, London. Saatchi didn’t reply to a request for remark in regards to the gross sales.
The Saatchi Gallery in King’s Street, which opened in 2008, hosts an eclectic mixture of reveals together with the present exhibition Homelessness: Reframed (till 20 September), which incorporates works by artists reminiscent of Marc Quinn and Tiffany Barham. Early exhibitions on the house included works primarily drawn from Saatchi’s assortment reminiscent of The Revolution Continues: New Artwork from China (2008).
