Belkis Ayón - New Now New York Wednesday, March 8, 2023 | Phillips

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  • “What she does is...personal because although this is a secret male society, the central figure is Sikán, a female figure who ends up being sacrificed by the community. That idea of a masculine society where the key figure is a woman has a lot to do with Belkis Ayón’s position.” 
    —Manuel Borja-Villel, director of the Reina Sofia, Madrid

    Alexandros of Antioch, Venus de Milo, 150–125 BCE, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Image: © Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Anne Chauvet / Art Resource, NY

    Hands extend from the darkness, enveloping the central figure of Belkis Ayón’s 1993, ¿Arrepentida?. The figure covers their chest, adopting a pose reminiscent of the Venus de Milo, and assumes a mysteriously  sensual power. Belkis Ayón’s work centers on depicting the highly secretive Abakuá society - an all-male, Afro-Cuban religious group. Ayón is said to have found an alter-ego in the only female figure in Abakuá mythology – the legendary princess, Sikán. Her prints reframe the mythology, putting the tragic heroine front and center.

     

    Ayón’s artistic process, both conceptually and physically, is heavily influenced by the power of myth. According to the legend, Sikán was granted sacred knowledge that enlightened her people. When she shared what she knew with her lover from a neighboring community, she was seen as a traitor and eventually murdered. It is a cautionary tale about secrecy, sexuality, and femininity – themes that are intertwined in ¿Arrepentida?. This work, a skilled example of Ayon’s collagraph technique, in which the artist created boards to print with collaged imagery, is testament to Ayón’s desire to deal with stories and create new modes of understanding. The nature of the multiple aids the artist in ensuring this story is told.

     

    Ana Mendieta, Untitled from the series Silueta, 1976. Artwork: © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC, courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

    Ayón’s work builds off a strong tradition of feminist Cuban artists who challenge the patriarchal structure of the highly authoritarian, Communist regime in which they grew up. Ana Mendieta, whose work also deals with mythology, paved the way for female, Cuban artists to carve out space to tell their stories. Her work centers around forging connections between earth and body. Her series Siluetas, in which Mendieta either photographed herself lying amongst nature or the imprint of her body in the sand, offer an almost divine like status to the female form. Despite their different choice of media, Mendieta and Ayón deal with the same theme of belonging to one’s culture in their oeuvres.

     

    Belkis Ayón’s work has been exhibited internationally, with prominent solo shows at the Venice Biennale, Reina Sofia, Madrid and Fowler Museum, Los Angeles. The artist has had two successful solo exhibitions since 2020 at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, which is a testament to her iconic legacy.

    • Provenance

      Private Collection, Germany (acquired directly from the artist)
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      Havana, Centro Provincial de Artes Plasticas y Diseño, Siempre vuelvo. Grabados de Belkis Ayón, 1993 (another example exhibited)
      Havana, Centro Provincial de Artes Plasticas y Diseño, 3er Encuentro de Grabado '93, 1993 (another example exhibited)
      Milan, Galleria Colorenero, Siempre vuelvo, 1994 (another example exhibited)
      Cienfuegos, Galería GRAU, Centro de Desarollo de las Artes Visuales, Siempre vuelvo. Exposición personal de Belkis Ayón, 1995 (another example exhibited)
      Breinig, Kirche St. Barbara, Unterstütze mich, halte mich hoch, im Schmerz. Belkis Ayón, 1995
      Bad Steben, Staatlichen Kurhaus, Cuba Kunst Heute, 1997 (another example exhibited)
      Havana, Galería Haydee Santamaría, Casa de las Américas, Mitos en el Caribe, August 2000, pp. 7, 40 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 7)
      Havana, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Colografías y matrices de Belkis Ayón. Imágenes desde el silencio, 2001 (another example exhibited)
      University Art Museum at the University at Albany, State University of New York, Passionately Cuban. Nine artists from Habana, October 13–November 18, 2001, p. 71 (another example exhibited)
      Saint Petersburg, Museum Ludwig im Russischen Museum, Art From Cuba: The Ludwig Collection, April 15–June 3, 2002, no. 25, pp. 51, 160 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 51, titled as La pecadora arrependita)
      Santiago, Galería BordeRío, 31 artistas cubanos contemporáneos en Chile, 2003, p. 20 (another example exhibited and illustrated)
      Matanzas, Galería de Arte Colón, Siempre vuelvo. Colografías de Belkis Ayón, 2005 (another example exhibited)
      Santa Clara, Galería Provincial de Arte de Villa Clara, Siempre vuelvo. Colografías de Belkis Ayón, 2005 (another example exhibited)
      Havana, Galería Villa Manuela, Belkis Ayón, origen de un mito, 2006 (another example exhibited)
      Havana, El Convento de San Francisco de Asís, Nkame. Belkis Ayón (1967–1999), 2009 (another example exhibited)

    • Literature

      Cúpulas. Revista Trimestral del Insituto Superior de Arte, no. 1, January 1996 (another example illustrated on the cover)
      TOPO Magazine, 1996, p. 59
      Unión, Revista de Literatura y Arte, no. 37, October–December 1999 (another example illustrated on the overlap)
      Noticias de Artecubano, no. 8, October 2000 (another example illustrated on the cover)
      La Gaceta de Cuba, no. 1, January–February 2004, p. 8 (detail of another example illustrated)
      Adelaida De Juan, "Cubanas en las artes plásticas," Cuba Internacional, 2004
      Luis Manuel Pérez-Boitel, No pidas el perdón, Santa Clara, 2004, p. 16 (another example illustrated)
      Katia Ayón, Alex Fleites, Cristina Vives Gutiérrez, David Mateo, Lázara Menéndez, eds., Nkame. Belkis Ayón, Madrid, 2010, no. 93.09, p. 200 (another example illustrated)

59

¿Arrepentida? (Repentant?)

signed, numbered and dated "4/6 ¿Arrepentida? Belkis Ayón 1993" lower edge; titled and inscribed "¿Arrepentida? N. 8 "Haz Que Mi Arrepentimento Sea Sincero"" on the reverse
collograph on paper
36 3/4 x 26 5/8 in. (93.3 x 67.6 cm)
Executed in 1993, this work is number 4 from an edition of 6 and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Belkis Ayón Estate.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000 

Sold for $60,960

Contact Specialist

Avery Semjen
Head of Sale, New Now
212 940 1207
asemjen@phillips.com

New Now

New York Auction 8 March 2023