Contemporary Art

Live Auction, 16 February 2019

Contemporary Auction
  • Jake Aikman; Set Adrift III


Lot Estimate
ZAR 150 000 - 250 000

About this Item

South African 1978-
Set Adrift III
signed; signed and dated 2009 on the reverse
oil on canvas
170 by 290cm excluding frame

Notes

A graduate of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Jake Aikman’s earliest seascapes depicted tremulous human figures in open bodies of water, sometimes atop crafts of different sorts. This lot with its horizontal lines of blue is a companion piece to two earlier square-format works, Set Adrift I and II, both painted in 2006–07 and shown as a pair on his second solo exhibition, Echoes, in 2009. The three works all offer an elevated view of an inflatable life raft buoying a lone figure on an expanse of water. The works quoted a contemporary news image, although Aikman’s interest in repeatedly painting the scene flowed from his postgraduate research into repetition, appropriation, copying and the breakdown thereof in paint. This lot was painted a year after he graduated. His 2009 exhibition also included two works quoting Gerhard Richter’s Seascape (Sea-Sea) (1970) and Peter Doig’s Island Painting (2000–01). Aikman abandoned the life-raft archetype in 2011.

Sean O’Toole

View all Jake Aikman lots for sale in this auction


Other lots that might interest you
Banele Khoza; Esselen Street
Banele Khoza
Esselen Street
ZAR 15 000 - 20 000
Blessing Ngobeni; Bullfighter (Capitalist)
Blessing Ngobeni
Bullfighter (Capitalist)
ZAR 100 000 - 150 000
Penny Siopis; Slings and Arrows
Penny Siopis
Slings and Arrows
ZAR 50 000 - 70 000
Conrad Botes; Selfportrait as a Woman (or why even the Devil suffers from castration anxiety), three panels, from the nine
Conrad Botes
Selfportrait as a Woman (or why even the Devil suffers from castration anxiety), three panels, from the nine
ZAR 30 000 - 50 000
Johann Louw; Two Men Against Wall
Johann Louw
Two Men Against Wall
ZAR 100 000 - 120 000
Mia Chaplin; Olivie in the Pink Room
Mia Chaplin
Olivie in the Pink Room
ZAR 20 000 - 30 000