Mohamed Abdella Otaybi (Sudanese, born 1948)
Flying Woman II, 2018
Signed ‘018 ‘signature’ (lower right)
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 101 cm
Ksh 330,000–385,000
(US$ 3,000–3,500)
Sold Ksh 328,720
Provenance: direct from the artist
Mohamed Abdella Otaybi graduated from the Khartoum College of Fine and Applied Arts and began working as an artist during the dynamic period of the 1970s where his work was immersed in the debates about cultural heritage and Sudanese visual identity of the Khartoum School at that time.
His painterly language has developed over the years but architectural and decorative motifs and calligraphic forms continue to populate his recent paintings.
Flying Woman II is an outstanding example of Otaybi’s strength as a colourist. The layered hues create depth and vibration, adding to the mythological, dreamlike quality of the image. As well as a painter, Otaybi is also a celebrated cartoonist and illustrator; elements of his graphic and satirical approach often translate into his paintings.
Otaybi has long been recognised as an influential figure in Sudanese Art: as well as holding regular solo exhibitions in Khartoum, from 1970 to the present, he has shown in international group exhibitions including the Sharjah Biennal, UAE, 1993; Modernism in Sudanese Art, British Museum, London, 2004; Sudan: Emergence of Singularities, P21 Gallery, London, 2017 and Khartoum Contemporary, Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, 2017. His work features in private and public collections including the National Museum in Sharjah, UAE. In December 2018 Otaybi was the focus of the article ‘Masters we Need to Master’ in Collector Magazine published by Art Africa.