“Lot #13”
2020-2021: 144” X 60”,Oil on Canvas
Panel 1: The Auctioneer
The auctioneer’s role is very specific and has not changed in centuries. Perched behind his podium he serves as a host and facilitator of the transaction about to take place. SOTHERNS replaces SOTHEBYS as the auction house as to give a nod to the history of slavery in the American south. The old SOTHEBYS font represents the “Old South” and the barbaric practices of the past and present.
Panel 2: The Journey
This panel represents the item being auctioned. Two art handlers act as “Overseers” and stare out at the audience as they present the parcel. The painting being auctioned is a visual representation about the resilience of African Americans. Pictured is the hand of an enslaved person thrown overboard (or who jumped overboard) in route to the new world while a group of monkeys watch from their seats. He is grasping the frame of the painting attempting to survive. This serves as a visual narrative for the endurance and resiliency it has taken for black Americans to navigate the institutional barriers be it historical trauma, cultural appropriation and disenfranchisement, social distancing, stigmatization and alienation, predatory financial tactics, disproportionate legal challenges, Poor access to health care, residents of food deserts etc. The action of holding on (depicted) and weathering the storm is a practice passed down from generation to generation. It speaks to the inner strength and determination we possess as a people.
Panel 3: The Buyer
The buyer acts as ”owner” and fully intends to profit from his purchase. Presently, the art buyer can shield taxable income with the purchase of a piece and stands to make more money reselling his purchase. Auction houses are largely unregulated, where the identities of buyers is a closely guarded secret, the prices of works are marked up and artists receive no percentage of the secondary and tertiary sales, no matter that they created the works now making everyone in the room rich.