NEW YORK – Works by the contemporary Nigerian artist Damola Ayegbayo will almost certainly earn top lot status at Jasper52’s Prints and Fine Art auction, which will be held on Wednesday, March 1 at 5 pm Eastern time. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
Ayegbayo, who was born in 1988 and is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, has no fewer than 15 artworks in the March 1 Jasper52 sale, which itself contains only 92 lots. The three Ayegbayo artworks chosen as highlights are different enough that it’s easy to believe they were made by more than one artist.
The first of the three is particularly fitting for Black History Month: Strength in Diversity, a large, horizontal 2020 oil on canvas that depicts the overlapping faces of seven Black women, rendered in varying colors. Strength in Diversity carries an estimate of $7,000-$8,000.
The other two Ayegbayo paintings are largely abstract in appearance. Realities of life 4, a resolutely square acrylic on canvas painted in 2023, is dominated by shades of sunny yellow and gold, with shapes rendered in blue, black and dark red gathered at the bottom. Ayegbayo’s Realities of life 4 has an estimate of $2,000-$2,500.
The final Damola Ayegbayo highlight is another relatively recent acrylic on canvas that dates to 2021. Titled Joy of Existence, the artist expresses the theme of the title with a rainbow palette of circles and swirls – virtually no straight lines are included. The lot notes feature the following statement about the work, which presumably comes from the artist: “Life is beautiful because we have made all the beautiful things around us happen, the smile we give to our friends, the kind and lovely words we say to the people around us. That is the beauty of life to see the sunshine which brightens our day and fills us with new vigor and strength. Life is colorful because it symbolizes growth in all things, energy, strength, nature, growth within, fertility. And Life is good.” Joy of Existence is estimated at $2,000-$2,500.
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