International auctioneer 'Christies' has added a piece of art created by Ivorian contemporary artist, Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba to feature during its upcoming auction. The Auction window is set to open online from 10:00 AM (EST) February 25 March 12 2021.
Details about the online auction of Aboudia’s collection titled "Noutchy in New York City" was disclosed on Christies website and on Instagram, where the company revealed that the auction would be followed by an exhibition, starting on March 4th at Christie’s, Rockefeller Center Galleries in New York.
The price of this particular piece is estimated to be between $10,000 -$15000, while another piece was priced $20,835 - $27,780.
Noah Davis a Specialist in Contemporary Art for Christies revealed that in recent years, the demand for Aboudia’s work had grown significantly, especially among major North American collectors and well established European bases.
Africa is widely known for its ancient collections that are on display in museums across North America and Europe, however in the global art market, relatively little attention has been focused on its contemporary designers.
However, Davis said that the Christie's clientele have shown a huge interest in artworks created by millennial African artists.
Aboudia's drawings are iconic for their colorful blend and graffiti effects that are presented on paper. His motivation to create artwork comes from telling stories about the unfavorable conditions and city life of his country (Ivory Coast).
For example, the word Notchy was drawn from nouchi, a youthful slang in the West African country is also the name of the artist’s dog who is affectionately misspelled, “Noutchy” and became the artists closest companion during the COVID-19 lockdown.
For centuries, African stories have proven to be marketable in the global art industry, one example is the rampant display of its historical artifacts across museums due to the cultural myth that they possess.
Nevertheless, the exhibition of Aboudia’s art work by a leading auction company like Christie’s strongly indicates that contemporary artists from Africa can also thrive by portraying stories around the continent in their craft.
Additionally, the continent can harness the talents and skill of its artists and designers to produce artworks that can compete with some notable European and American artists.
One issue which may affect upcoming African artists is the rising financial figures of the industry, affecting how these contemporary artists scale up they're work in order to compete in the industry.
A report by Statistica in 2018 explained that the world’s art market was valued at over $67 billion, which is an increase from almost 64 billion a year before.
However, the majority of the global art market share is dominated by the United States and Europe. Perhaps with the exposure of more African talents in the creative field, the continent can increase its global share of the market.
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