Aspire Art is proud to present The Present Future: A Private Collection of African &
International Contemporary Art. This carefully curated single-owner sale will take place in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 22 June 2022.
Athi-Patra Ruga, Invitation… Presentation… Induction | Estimate: ZAR 800 000 – 1 000 000
This exciting collection comprises of 122 lots, and includes important works by new and leading voices in African art in particular. Headlining the auction are two superb large scale tapestries by the much-celebrated South African superstar Athi-Patra Ruga. In these sensuous works, the artist uses playful imagery to critique convention, question normative thinking and challenge a heteronormative social construction of African history and knowledge.
Athi-Patra Ruga, Imini Yomjojo (Judgement Day) | Estimate: ZAR 500 000 – 700 000
Other highlights include magnificent and bold works by Zimbabwean painter Wycliffe Mundopa. Winner of the 2021 FNB Art Prize, the artist has been dubbed the “Painter of Modern African Life” by acclaimed academic Ashraf Jamal, who elaborates that in his vibrant, daringly brash, wildly dissolute, expressionist canvases “we find an artist hyper-alert to the moment – what it takes to make art now.”
Wycliffe Mundopa, Myths of Harare (Drowning in Air) | Estimate: ZAR 120 000 – 180 000
Also confronting modern African life, but with a distinctly different aesthetic – and spotlighting the rich diversity of artistic production on the continent – is Rwandan artist Serge Alain Nitegeka. Referencing journeys of displacement, forced migration and the refugee, Obstacle 1; Studio study III from 2012 is a monumental, bold, abstract study in black, white and red.
Serge Alain Nitegeka, Obstacle 1; Studio study III, | Estimate: ZAR 300 000 – 500 000
Collectors will also have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire Cape Town based conceptual artist, Ed Young’s awe-inspiring sculptural installation titled Hero a mesmerising life-like rendition of the artist as superhero, or rather mildly dejected antihero.
Ed Young, Hero| Estimate: 800 000 – 1 000 000
Other artists included in the collection are Teresa Kutala Firmino, Zolile Phetshane, Cameron Platter, Asemahle Ntlonti, Carola Friess, Alexandra Karakashian, Morné Visagie, Pierre Vermeulen, Wim Botha, Kate Gottgens, Mohau Modisakeng, Pierre Fouché, Pamela Stretton, Daniella Mooney, Stephané E. Conradie, Matthew Hindley, Conrad Botes, Sepideh Mehraban and Willie Bester among others.
Kate Gottgens, Bromide Beach | Estimate: R 180 000 – 250 000
Thrilled to have been entrusted with this important collection, Ruarc Peffers, Aspire M.D states that “Aspire Art is the leading auction house for late-20th Century and Contemporary art in Africa, for Africa. Our most recent single-owner collection; Art, Life, and Love: The Collection of Nwabisa Xayiya in 2021, demonstrated this fact unequivocally. We are proud to follow this up with a new single-owner collection of leading contemporary art from Africa and further afield, comprising some of the finest examples from many of South Africa’s leading contemporary visionaries. Aspire has become known for bringing the most exciting and top artists of tomorrow to auction, and this collection honours that commitment – for the collectors of today, we present to you a collection of tomorrow.”
Representative of contemporary art, right now, in the present, and indeed into the future, the entire collection is divided into two parts; a Live Auction and a Timed-Online Auction, giving bidders two separate opportunities to participate. The Live Auction takes place at Aspire Art in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 22 June at 6 pm and will be live-streamed. The Online-only Auction opens on Wednesday, 15 June, and closes on Thursday 23 June from 6 pm.
Download the Auction e-Catalogue here
View the Live Auction here
Mohau Modisakeng, Untitled (Metamorphosis 2) | Estimate: R 80 000 – 120 000
AUCTION ENQUIRIES & REGISTRATION TO BID
Aspire Art Johannesburg
Tel: +27 10 109 7989 / email: jhb@aspireart.net
PREVIEW
9 to 22 June,
Weekdays: 09h30 – 16h30pm & Saturdays: 09h30 – 13h00
VENUE
32 Bolton Road, Parkwood, Johannesburg
PREVIEW OPENING & WALKABOUT
Collectors and art lovers are invited to attend the preview opening and walkabout with
Ashraf Jamal this coming Saturday, 11 June at 10 am in Johannesburg.
ENQUIRIES AND TO RSVP
+27 10 109 7989 | +27 83 397 2410
kholisa@aspireart.net
Asemahle Ntlonti, Intlazane | Estimate: R 50 000 – 70 000