Nigerian-British rapper, Skepta will make his art world debut this week. For the first time, his painting ‘Mama Goes to Market’ will go on public exhibition in Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries from September 8–13.
After its showing, Skepta will auction off his first artwork as part of the Contemporary Curated series sale he co-curated for Sotheby’s. The art will be sold as a part of a collection that also includes works by Ouattara Watts, Theaster Gates, and Omar Ba.
What Skepta is saying about the art
As a co-curator, Skepta personally selected nine of the artworks that will be shown and offered for sale. He personally selected all nine because “they all had an African sense about them.” He said in a statement, “Whether songs were produced by African musicians or not, they all share in this essence. They initiated significant discussions with my painting in one way or another.
“For me, it’s about that beautiful thing of being able to look at a picture and feeling an emotion. If I look at an art piece and feel something, I fall in love with it.” Skepta said in his statement.
Skepta selected the 1986 piece ‘Simon Helps’ by Sir Frank Bowling and the portrait ‘Addicktion’ by British-Ghanaian artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye as part of the curation.
‘Mama Goes to Market’ was created by Skepta in 2020, during the initial global lockdown. His childhood recollections of Nigeria served as the inspiration for the project, which he says was born “out of a true frustration” and worry that his daughter will never be able to visit an African market. He stated, “I attempted to express that in paint because I thought, ‘She would always have to buy things online, she’s never going to experience this.'”
Experts are estimating that the sale of the artwork could be up to £40,000 or even more than that. However, there is no assurance that it will sell for that amount.