Lot 15
AWOL ERIZKU(B. 1988)Untitled, 2023-24
13 – 27 February 2025, 17:00 PST
Online, Los AngelesUS$15,000 - US$25,000
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AWOL ERIZKU (B. 1988)
Untitled, 2023-24
signed (on the reverse)
inkjet print on Hahnemühle photographic paper
11 x 8.5 in.
27.9 x 21.6 cm.
This work is unique.
signed (on the reverse)
inkjet print on Hahnemühle photographic paper
11 x 8.5 in.
27.9 x 21.6 cm.
This work is unique.
Footnotes
Provenance
Courtesy of Awol Erizku
Known for his 2017 maternity portraits of Beyoncé, Awol Erizku is an Ethiopian-American contemporary artist whose imagery bridges visual cultures, disrupting Eurocentric visions of art and beauty. He has photographed culturally significant figures for The New Yorker, GQ, and Vanity Fair.
Born in Gondar, Ethiopia, in 1988, Awol Erizku is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, film, sculpture and installation, creating a new vernacular that bridges the gap between African and African American visual culture. Erizku's work refers to subjects as diverse as art history, hip-hop, and spirituality, rejecting Eurocentric notions of art and beauty in favour of building an Afrocentric aesthetic, something he refers to as "Afro-esotericism." With a distinctive emphasis on reclaiming and reinterpreting historical narratives within a contemporary context, Erizku's work challenges viewers to reconsider conventional perspectives on art and society through a lens that merges personal narrative with broader socio-political commentary.
Erizku received a BFA from The Cooper Union, New York, in 2010, and an MFA from the Yale School of Art, New Haven, in 2014. Erizku's work has been exhibited at prominent institutions including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Arkansas; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; The Studio Museum, Harlem; Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto; FLAG Art Foundation, New York; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah. Erizku also brings high concept to commercial photography highlighting cultural and creative leaders for publications such as The New Yorker, New York Magazine, GQ and Vanity Fair. Erizku's works are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; By Art Matters, Hangzhou Contemporary Art Museum, Hangzhou; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah.