Helene Love-Allotey
Head of Sale
Lot 20*,TP
Portia Zvavahera(Zimbabwean, born 1985)Complete, 2014
Amended
17 March 2021, 17:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £75,250 inc. premium
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Portia Zvavahera (Zimbabwean, born 1985)
Complete, 2014
oil based printing ink and oil bar on canvas
200 x 123cm (78 3/4 x 48 7/16in).
oil based printing ink and oil bar on canvas
200 x 123cm (78 3/4 x 48 7/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
Acquired from the Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, 'Portia Zvavahera Wayfinding', 2014;
A private collection.
Zvavahera exhibits ink paintings on paper and canvas, her interest in the latter reignited after attending an artist's workshop earlier this year. Discussing her use of oil-based inks (usually used for printing processes) rather than oil paint or acrylic, Zvavahera notes the fluidity and flatness afforded by the ink that allows her to build richly layered surfaces.
The relationship between materiality and mark-making is playfully explored in instances where gestural marks begin to mimic the printed textile patterns which appear in several of the new works. The printmaking reference is amplified further in the repetition of particular figures and compositions, reiterating the intensity of the emotional state depicted.
The artist draws upon her deeply held sense of spirituality and accompanying rituals of belief to embody the predominantly female figures within these works, relocating them from the realm of the personal to the transpersonal. Moving beyond literal autobiography and self-portraiture, the figures depicted become archetypal expressions of feminine experiences of faith, relationship and motherhood.
Figures are revealed in varying states of reverence, prostration and isolation, and the intensity of these experiences is amplified by the 'non spaces' of purple, blue and red in which the figures are held. The ecstasy and suffering depicted unfolds and spreads indefinitely beyond the edges of the image, and is offered back into the world. In these instances the notion of relationship itself becomes significant above all else: relationship with God, with another and with oneself.
Saleroom notices
Please note: This work is signed and dated 'Portia Zvavahera 14' (lower left)
