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In Short
“I like to paint images that portray power and emotions, and—at the same time—identity” – Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Painting Power
Evoking the postmodern, realist portraiture of Barkley Hendricks and Kerry James Marshall, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe’s luminous, bold paintings of black men and woman exude a sense of pride and aristocratic dignity. Born in Accra, Ghana, but now living and working in Portland, Oregon, he usually depicts his friends (from real life or those he met online) or people he encounters on the street in classically derived poses.
[left] Barkley L. Hendricks, Misc. Tyrone (Tyrone Smith), 1976. Private Collection, Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, Artwork © Barkley L. Hendricks
[right] Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of a Young Man, circa 1530. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Image copyright (C) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Image source: Art Resource, NY
"Color means a great deal where I come from. It's a distinguishing quality – the very means of self-expression” – Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Shade of Black is a work from Quaicoe’s series of cowboys, and likely portrays model David Theodore, who wore a similar ensemble for a 2019 photoshoot. As all of the artist’s figures, the present subject is depicted with conspicuously vibrant sartorial choices, donning a bright purple jacket atop a tangerine turtleneck, outfitted with a straw yellow cowboy hat. The lush treatment of these garments harmonizes with Quaicoe’s rendering of black skin—replete with golden, coral, and burgundy tonalities.
Quaicoe’s paintings are influenced by hand-painted Ghanaian film posters from the 1980s and 1990s, which is clear in the compositions of the canvases, usually featuring a single figure against a monochrome impasto-rich expanse. His idiosyncratic approach, coalescing African popular culture and black American portraiture, has earned him the reputation of one of the most exciting up-and-coming figurative artists today.In Interview
AG: Has your work always taken on the style it currently embodies?
OKKQ: I have gone through several processes during the past few years trying to find my language as an artist after graduating. I first started off as an abstract and landscape painter focusing on nature and fantasies until I started taking lessons in portrait photography. This created a deep connection between me and the people I photographed, which led me to begin working on figuration. I have worked with different materials and explored different styles throughout my career, and it took me eleven years to find my own voice, which I currently inhabit.
Read the rest of the interview here.Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
Artist Biography
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe paints empowering images of black men and women set against lush monochromatic backgrounds. His portraits of friends and family are celebrations of blackness and reclamations of lost and forgotten cultural dignity. He uses color, the primary instrument of self-expression in his native Ghana, as a language of transformation to create a dynamic of cultural, political, and personal redemption. Quaicoe was born in Accra, Ghana, where he was first introduced to painting by the expressive, highly stylized posters painted by local artists to advertise upcoming films, and attended the Ghanatta College of Art and Design for Fine Art in Accra, where he studied painting. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
14
Shade of Black
signed “Kwame Kye” lower right; further signed and dated “KWAME KYE MARCH 2018” on the reverse
oil on canvas
48 1/8 x 36 in. (122.2 x 91.4 cm)
Painted in 2018.
Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $250,000
Amanda Lo Iacono
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1278
20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 2 July 2020
1
Titus Kaphar
Untitled (red thread lady)
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $187,500
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2
Matthew Wong
Mood Room
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $848,000
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3
Lucas Arruda
Untitled
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $350,000
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4
Helen Frankenthaler
Head of the Meadow
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $3,020,000
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5
Joan Mitchell
Noël
Estimate $9,500,000 - 12,500,000
Sold for $11,062,500
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6
Christina Quarles
Placed
Estimate $70,000 - 100,000
Sold for $400,000
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7
Francis Picabia
Portrait de femme
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $350,000
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8
KAWS
COMPANION (DETAIL OF CROWD SHOT)
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,380,000
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9
Robert Nava
The Tunnel
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $162,500
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10
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Victor 25448
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $9,250,000
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11
George Condo
Stump Head
Estimate $900,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,050,000
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12
Banksy
Monkey Poison
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,000,000
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13
Maxfield Parrish
Humpty Dumpty
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $740,000
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14
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Shade of Black
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $250,000
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15
Charles White
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $800,000
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16
Ali Banisadr
Motherboard
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $572,000
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17
Gerhard Richter
Abstraktes Bild (801-3)
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $3,680,000
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18
Albert Oehlen
Im Museum II
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $560,000
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19
Thomas Struth
Notre Dame, Paris
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $400,000
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20
David Hammons
Hidden Drawing (Jordan begins 8th season as No. 1)
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $181,250
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21
Julio González
L'arlequin / Pierrot ou Colombine
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $920,000
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22
Amoako Boafo
Joy in Purple
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $668,000
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23
Fernando Botero
Woman
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,004,000
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24
Donald Judd
Untitled
Estimate $550,000 - 750,000
Sold for $680,000
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25
Sturtevant
Stella Gran Cairo
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $620,000
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