Red Soil Hymn, 2022. Soil pigment, charcoal and acrylic medium on raw canvas.
Lot 7

Ruth Kanini Musyoka (b. 1982)

Red Soil Hymn, 2022

Soil pigment, charcoal and acrylic medium on raw canvas

160 × 130 cm

Estimate KES 450,000–700,000

Bidding

Sold

KES 550,000

Hammer price. Buyer's premium of 20% and VAT on the premium are added.

How bidding works

Bids · 16

  1. KES 550,000 Paddle 124 In the room 23:50
  2. KES 500,000 Paddle 443 In the room 23:50
  3. KES 480,000 Paddle 114 In the room 23:50
  4. KES 460,000 Paddle 122 In the room 23:50
  5. KES 440,000 Paddle 309 In the room 23:50
  6. KES 420,000 Paddle 375 In the room 23:50
  7. KES 400,000 Paddle 335 In the room 23:50
  8. KES 380,000 Paddle 386 In the room 23:50
  9. KES 360,000 Paddle 290 In the room 23:50
  10. KES 340,000 Paddle 200 In the room 23:50
  11. KES 320,000 Paddle 284 In the room 23:49
  12. KES 300,000 Paddle 134 In the room 23:49
  13. KES 280,000 Paddle 284 In the room 23:49
  14. KES 260,000 Paddle 129 In the room 23:49
  15. KES 240,000 Paddle 335 In the room 23:49
  16. KES 220,000 Paddle 154 In the room 23:49

About the work

A great arc of red earth sweeps up from the lower left of the canvas and breaks against bars of charcoal. Musyoka worked the soil, sieved from her family's land near Machakos, into the raw cotton with her palms and rags, and the marks of her hands are everywhere in it.

Condition

Very good. A little loose pigment at the lower edge, stable.

Provenance

Acquired from the artist by the present owner, 2022.

The artist

Musyoka makes her own pigment from the red soil of her family's land near Machakos, sieved and bound with acrylic medium, and works it into raw cotton canvas with her hands, rags and charcoal. The large gestural paintings that result read as weather, or as hymns. She has said that the paintings are dry-season pictures even when they are made in the rains.

More by Ruth Kanini Musyoka