Provenance

SMAC, Cape Town.

Private Collection.

Exhibited

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, SMAC Solo Booth, Black, Painting, Flag, Monument, 14 February to 16 February 2020.

Notes

The present lot formed part of Alexandra Karakashian's dynamic installation at the 2020 Cape Town Art Fair. Her solo booth comprised four stretched canvases, an ersatz flag and two stacks of folded works, all in the same keynote of black. Her presentation extended on formal strategies and themes refined throughout the 2010s. A former assistant to Penny Siopis, Karakashian's artistic journey is defined by her innovative use of unconventional materials like engine oil, gunpowder and charcoal. Their unwieldy nature makes them volatile agents, requiring the artist to embrace uncertainty and change. Her striking work explores themes of displacement, memory and impermanence, influenced by her family's history during the Armenian genocide and her consistent engagement with the colour black as a symbol of mourning, resistance and transformation.¹

¹ Sean O'Toole (2020) Black, Painting, Flag, Monument, exhibition pamphlet, Cape Town: SMAC.