Lot 2

Mohammed Otaybi (Sudanese, born 1948)
Untitled (Women gathering around a Tree), 2018
Signed ‘018 signature’ (lower right)
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 80.5 cm
Ksh 340,000 – 400,000
(US$) 3,000 – 3,500
Provenance: Direct from the artist

Sold Ksh 398,140

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 at the Khartoum school at that time, about cultural heritage and Sudanese visual identity.

His painterly language has evolved over the years but architectural and decorative motifs and calligraphic forms continue to populate his recent paintings. Otaybi’s strength is as a colourist, layering hues to create depth and vibration, and adding to the mythological and dreamlike quality of his paintings. 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. In addition to holding regular solo exhibitions in Khartoum from 1970 to the present, he has shown in international group exhibitions including the Sharjah Biennial, 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.