The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2022 Benefit Auction | Hosted by Sotheby’s

Virginia Chihota

Nguva Yekuputsa Nenguva Yekuvaka (a time to breakdown and a time to build)

No reserve

No Reserves

Lot Closed

February 22, 05:02 PM GMT

Estimate

18,000 - 24,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Virginia Chihota

Zimbabwe

b.1983

Nguva Yekuputsa Nenguva Yekuvaka (a time to breakdown and a time to build)

signed and dated 2021 (lower left)

silkscreen printing on canvas

150.5 by 150.5, 59¼ by 59¼in.

framed: 154.5 by 154.5cm., 60¾ by 60¾in.

Please be aware of the Conditions of Sale when bidding. As a benefit auction, there is no buyer’s premium charged. The only additional costs due to the winning bidder are applicable sales tax and shipping. Works auctioned are sold “as is,” and condition reports are included with lot descriptions as available. In-person previews of the auction artwork will be available at Norval Foundation at 4 Steenberg Rd, Tokai, Cape Town, 7945, South Africa from 26 January – 22 February, Monday to Sundays 9 AM – 5:00 PM (Closed on Tuesdays). Please note that while this auction is hosted on Sothebys.com, it is being administered by Norval Foundation (“the museum”), and all post-sale matters (inclusive of invoicing and property pickup/shipment) will be handled by the museum. As such, Sotheby’s will share the contact details for the winning bidders with the museum so that they may be in touch directly post-sale.

This work has been kindly donated by the artist

Virginia Chihota (b. 1983, Zimbabwe) is an artist who mixes printing techniques with drawing to produce unique works of striking formal complexity. They often depict the female form blending into near abstraction, and bodies caught in strange embraces evoking a figural union; along with an iconographic repertoire which points towards the domestic whilst emphasising connectedness and collectivity. Chihota's work highlights the ways in which the female agency disrupts borders and activates concerns around different forms of belonging. Subjectivity emerges as a concept embedded in notions of interrelatedness.

Nguva Yekuputsa Nenguva Yekuvaka (a time to breakdown and a time to build) is part of a series and is also a work that stands on its own. A silkscreen on canvas, Chihota portrays a confrontation of fears, relevance and responsibility surrounding self. Through different media, she reflects on the past and how certain issues remain familiar though camouflaged differently. The repetition of figures, gestures or patterns in the compositions reflect a need to continue asking questions until arriving at answers. The process and act has become a time of prayer and meditation on those matters keeping her connected making every moment relative to the next.