Skepta to auction off debut painting in co-curated Sotheby’s sale

Skepta is about to promote his debut portray as a part of an public sale he’s co-curated for Sotheby’s’ Up to date Curated sequence. The portray, titled Mama Goes to Market, can be exhibited at Sotheby’s’ New Bond Avenue galleries later this week, earlier than being auctioned off as a part of quite a bit that includes items by Omar Ba, Theaster Gates and Ouattara Watts, amongst others.

9 of the works being offered as a part of this yr’s Up to date Curated lot have been handpicked by Skepta; the London rapper selected every bit as a result of “all of them had an African feeling about them”. “Whether or not they have been created by African artists or not, all of them share on this essence,” he mentioned in a press release. “In a method or one other, they triggered highly effective dialogues with my portray too.” Notable items chosen by Skepta embrace Simon Helps, a 1986 portray by Sir Frank Bowling, and Addicktion, a portrait by British-Ghanaian painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Skepta’s debut painting, Mama Goes to Market, 2021.
Skepta’s debut portray, Mama Goes to Market, 2021. Photograph: Sotheby’s

Skepta produced Mama Goes to Market in 2020, throughout the first lockdown. He describes the piece, which was impressed by childhood reminiscences of Nigeria, as having come “from an actual frustration”, in addition to concern that his daughter would by no means be capable to go to an African market. “I believed, ‘She's going to at all times have to purchase every thing on-line, she’s by no means going to expertise this,’” he mentioned, “so I attempted to painting it in paint.” The portray’s pre-sale estimate is £40,000 to £60,000, though there isn't a assure that it's going to promote at that value.

Skepta’s final album was 2020’s Insomnia, a collaboration with Chip and Younger Adz. The yr prior, he launched Ignorance Is Bliss, which debuted at No 2 on the UK albums chart and has been licensed Gold. In 2017, Skepta received the Ivor Novello for Songwriter of the 12 months, a yr after he received the Mercury prize for his album Konnichiwa.

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