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

Amy Rusch

Seeing With a Listening Ear and a Question of Time

No Reserves

Lot Closed

January 31, 05:02 PM GMT

Estimate

2,000 - 3,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Amy Rusch

South African

b.1990

Seeing With a Listening Ear and a Question of Time

signed and dated 2022 (on the reverse)

found plastic bags and thread

86 by 68.5cm., 33⅞ by 27in.

framed: 97 by 81cm., 38¼ by 31⅞in.

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 25 January – 20 March, Monday to Sundays 9AM – 5:00PM (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

Amy Rusch creates works by stitching together layers of found plastic bags, conceptually and materially bringing together different time periods and aspects of South Africa’s contemporary and historic cultures. Her current body of work is specifically informed by ocean crossings, archaeological excavations and microscopic studies of the living world. The works may be seen as mappings of lived-body experiences, becoming multi-sensory combinations of sound, vibration, line and colour. The artist finds a unique rhythm in the way that she works with her materials. The resultant pieces provide a retrospective link to the embodied experience transmuted through her creative process.

Seeing with a Listening Ear and a Question of Time (2022) is a transmutation of time spent on a koppie (small mountain) in South Africa’s Northern Cape province: a place abundant with rock engravings and archaeological material. Rusch’s time in this region was marked by the end of a seven-year drought - rain transforming the natural environment. The inspiration for this particular work speaks to a shared experience embedded in our collective memory – dry earth, responding to water and the resultant life-force reshaping a landscape.