As part of the sale devoted to Modern and Contemporary African Art on Wednesday, June, 24, 2020, PIASA is renewing its partnership with the South African auction house Aspire Auction, in order to offer collectors a selection of the most emblematic artists on the African scene, including the artist Nicholas Hlobo.
Born in 1975 in Cape Town, South Africa, Nicholas Hlobo lives and works in Johannesburg. He is known for his large, fluid and organic sculptures that are both formal and highly structured. His work focuses on femininity and masculinity through the use of materials such as ribbons, rubber tubes, organza, lace, canvas, paper and found objects.
Hlobo won the Tollman Award for Visual Art 2006, the Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2009, and was a finalist for the Future Generation Art Prize in 2010. The same year he was selected as a "protégé" by Sir Anish Kapoor for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.
His work can be found in the Pinault Collection at Palazzo Grassi; Palazzo Papadopoli and in the Future Generation Art Prize, created by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. He was the first recipient of the Villa Extraordinary Award for Sculpture in 2016.
ƒ Nicholas Hlobo (born in 1975, South Africa)
Umfanekiso, 2012
Ribbon and aluminium on canvas
Signed, dated and inscribed with the title on the reverse
150.5 x 101 cm
"Umfanekiso", the work offered for sale on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, was created in 2012. Emblematic of his reflection on materials and their graphic potential, it is composed of ribbons and aluminium glued on a canvas. Exhibited at Art Basel Miami in 2012, it is estimated at between 45,000 and 55,000 euros.
Although a leading figure on the first market, Hlobo's work has appeared at auction less than ten times. The present work, exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2012, is only the third work on canvas ever to be offered on the second market. In 2018, a similar work entitled UNXEME, 2016 reached £52,000 at a sale in London.
