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“My vision is not bound to a country or a continent; it extends beyond borders and all that can be found on a map. While I use identifiable pictorial elements to be better understood, this project is nevertheless about something much wider. I am painting the Cosmos.”
— Ouattara WattsIn a world of compromise, Outtara Watts has not. Boasting a prolific career spanning five decades, his practice is distinguished by monumental canvases, alongside watercolours, gouaches, drawings, and collages, that connect West African aesthetics with Western modernist sensibilities, a consummate melange of his native graphic traditions with Neo-Expressionism. Naturally, he draws inspiration from the indigenous arts of Africa, but also draws from the pool of post-war abstraction — in particular the work of Rothko, who Watt says ‘touches upon the omniscient, unfolds life, death, man’s place with regards to the deepest of realities’ i.
Mark Rothko, White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender), 1950
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkBorn Bakari Outtarra in the Ivorian capital Abidjan (referred to all as simply Ouattara), he would study at the esteemed l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, before a chance encounter with Basquiat would take him to New York, where he has lived and work since. The two quickly became close friends; one could even call them kindred spirits, separated by only 4 years and with their backgrounds intertwining as Ouattara was born in the Ivory Coast, and Basquiat to a Haitian father and Puerto Rican mother in Brooklyn. It of course would be Basquiat who gave him his start in New York, introducing him to his network of friends, curators and collectors and crucially landing him the infamous dealer, Vrej Baghoomian.
A Powerful Constellation
Intercessor is an accomplished later work by Watts, where we see his diverse practice mature into an assemblage of chromatic variations and a diverse lexicon of geometric shapes and symbols balanced by biometric figures: an intoxication of colour, line and form. Here he departs from the more obvious African iconography of his earlier work — tribal masks, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics — and establishes the vocabulary that would become paramount in his late stage career: mathematical equations (where Basquiat’s influence begins to emerge), diagrams of atoms, earthly tones balanced with brighter accents, and intricate cosmic bursts. Indeed, it is the latter in this compositional agenda, Ouattara’s oneness with the divine, that makes the present lot so bewitching. Bearing the stigmata of this spiritual maximalism, the artist leaves the door open in Intercessor for its audience to draw their own conclusions from its universal consciousness.
Music forms a considerable component of his artistic process, listening to the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Fela Kuti to seek out new modes of expression and enabling him to enter a meditative state while painting. Like the notes of a song, Watt then demarcates an analogy of sequences on the canvas, an automatic interaction between artist and medium.
Ouattara works quickly in his replete Bushwick studio, often on multiple pieces at once in relentless explosions of his creative drive. ‘It’s a kind of dance with the canvas all night in the studio’, he explains ii.
Ouattara’s Time Is Now
Like Ernie Barnes (Lot 18), Ouattara is an artist who is undeserved a passing over in the canon of art history. Eschewing strict association with groups or institutions, his story has not been told from the auction lectern nor the lofty white cubes of museum retrospectives, but rather from the principled and virtuous works of a creative ethos that has always marched to the beat of its own drum. Anti-colonial, pure and showered with the mantle of cultural memory, the artist bends for no man or movement. As with all his compositions, Intercessor is a defiant battle cry against the assumed pre-eminence of the Western world, one that rips through the cosmos with a mastery over colour and form, and a profound spirituality.
Collectors Digest
Watts has been involved in notable exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (2021); Espace Paul Rebeyrolles, France (2019); Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan (2018); Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Dakar, Senegal (2018); Venice Biennale, Venice (2017); La Villette, Paris (2017); National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.(2006); Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (2002); and the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial, New York (2002), among others.
His work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; Smithsonian National Museum of African American Art, Washington, D.C.; The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; Collection Mohammed IV, Morocco; Fondation Dapper, Paris, France; Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, New York; and the UC Berkeley Museum of Art and Film Archive, Berkeley, California, among others.
Currently, Watts has a solo show at Karma Gallery, who he is represented by, Paintings, in New York.
i Outtara Watts, quoted in Hafida Jemni, ‘Sounding Out Painting: A Conversation with Ouattara Watts’ for Ouattara Watts: Before Looking at This Work, Listen to It, Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, 2019, online
ii Outtara Watts, quoted in ‘Maximum Impact: Kaelen Wilson-Goldie on the art of Ouattara Watts’, Artforum, September 2021, online
Provenance
Karma, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
30
Intercessor
signed, titled, dated and inscribed '2003 N.Y. OuattARA WAttS NEW YORK "iNTERCESSOR" OuattARA WAttS Ouattara 2003' on the reverse
mixed media on canvas
181.6 x 151.1 cm. (71 1/2 x 59 1/2 in.)
Executed in 2003.
Estimate
HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
€97,400-146,000
$103,000-154,000
Sold for HK$1,134,000
Charlotte Raybaud
Specialist, Head of Evening Sale
+852 2318 2026
CharlotteRaybaud@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Hong Kong Auction 22 June 2022
1
Julie Curtiss
Funky Boots
Estimate HK$600,000 - 800,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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2
Jamian Juliano-Villani
Hand's Job
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$819,000
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3
Lucy Bull
8:50
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$11,382,000
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4
Scott Kahn
Soundview
Estimate HK$900,000 - 1,400,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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5
Hernan Bas
Who Told Them We Were Coming?
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$3,528,000
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6
Shara Hughes
Pleasure House
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$6,542,000
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7
Loie Hollowell
Linked Lingam in Red and Blue
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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8
Anna Weyant
Chest
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$4,158,000
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9
George Condo
Transparent Female Forms
Estimate HK$25,000,000 - 35,000,000
Sold for HK$36,550,000
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10
This lot is no longer available.
11
Matthew Wong
Pink Wave
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 26,000,000
Sold for HK$22,635,000
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12
David Hockney
Painted Landscape (Or Red and Blue Landscape)
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 24,000,000
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13
Ed Ruscha
Spied Upon Scene: Window
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$3,150,000
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14
Huang Yuxing
Pearl Shore
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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15
This lot is no longer available.
16
Nicolas Party
Two Portraits
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for HK$6,542,000
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17
George Condo
The Strangers
Estimate HK$5,000,000 - 6,500,000
Sold for HK$5,670,000
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18
Ernie Barnes
Life After Sundown
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$6,048,000
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19
Javier Calleja
1971
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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20
Yoshitomo Nara
Untitled
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for HK$7,510,000
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21
This lot is no longer available.
22
Adrian Ghenie
Pie Fight Study 4
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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23
Michaël Borremans
Stars
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$2,772,000
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24
Li Chen
Angelic Smile
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$4,284,000
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25
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline Series - Big Family
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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26
Zhang Enli
Things
Estimate HK$2,200,000 - 4,200,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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27
This lot is no longer available.
28
Lee Ufan
From Line No. 790372
Estimate HK$9,000,000 - 14,000,000
Sold for HK$11,140,000
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29
Pierre Soulages
Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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30
Ouattara Watts
Intercessor
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$1,134,000
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31
Sam Francis
Untitled
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
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32
KAWS
UNTITLED
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for HK$3,276,000
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33
Kohei Nawa
PixCell-Deer #21
Estimate HK$2,800,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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34
This lot is no longer available.
35
Anna Park
I to I
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$2,268,000
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36
Trey Abdella
Some Things Aren't Worth Waiting For
Estimate HK$600,000 - 900,000
Sold for HK$2,646,000
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37
Szabolcs Bozó
One Bird, A Cat and A Man
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$882,000
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38
Katherine Bernhardt
Laundry Day
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$2,142,000
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39
Issy Wood
Dog With Pendants (Not as Close)
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$1,386,000
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40
Robert Nava
Shark Wing Pegasus
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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41
Ayako Rokkaku
Untitled
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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42
Allison Zuckerman
Bullseye
Estimate HK$550,000 - 750,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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43
Serge Attukwei Clottey
Valentine's Day
Estimate HK$250,000 - 450,000
Sold for HK$693,000
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44
Genieve Figgis
Pink Ballroom
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$2,016,000
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45
Emmanuel Taku
Brothers in Red
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$1,512,000
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46
Aboudia
Take Me II
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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47
José Parlá
Writers' Bench: Grand Concourse & 149th Street, The Bronx
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$1,764,000
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48
Edgar Plans
Night Creatures
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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49
Rafa Macarrón
Sin título (Cosmos)
Estimate HK$700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for HK$1,386,000
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