The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2023 Benefit Auction | Hosted by Sotheby’s

Yaw Owusu

Gold Pastures

No Reserves

Lot Closed

January 31, 05:29 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Yaw Owusu

Ghanaian

b.1992

Gold Pastures

Ghana pesewas, US Pennies, Euro cents, UK Pence, Dubai fils, stainless steel, copper wire, wood

135 by 135 by 5cm., 53⅛ by 53⅛ by 2in.

Executed 2022

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This work has been kindly donated by the artist

Yaw Owusu creates installations that transform discarded objects into objects of value that question how value in itself is made and unmade. Using steel, gold, silver, copper and found objects in foils, sheets and coins, his work pierces the strata of trade, exchange and labour histories that form the foundations of contemporary economies.

Gold Pastures (2022) is created from Ghana pesewas, US pennies, Euro cents, UK pence and Dubai fils alongside stainless steel, copper wire and wood. Inspired by his encounters with people from Africa and other immigrants around the US, Europe, and the UAE, Owusu drew his attention to the effects of migration on identity and culture. The title, which riffs off the notion that life might be better elsewhere, questions the global economic conditions that simultaneously encourage migration (in order to exploit a cheap labour force) and restrict it (in the form of various bureaucratic barriers as well as poor living and working conditions).