18th Jun, 2026 19:00
Modern & Contemporary Art - Evening Sale
33
Johannes Phokela (South Africa 1966-)
Cerebro
oil on paper
Artwork date: 2006
Exchange Rates*: USD 5 999 – 7 199
GBP 4 497 – 5 397
EURO 5 167 – 6 201
R100,000 - R120,000
Buyers Premium
oil on paper
Artwork date: 2006
Exchange Rates*: USD 5 999 – 7 199
GBP 4 497 – 5 397
EURO 5 167 – 6 201
(1)
68 x 52 cm; framed size: 90.5 x 74.5 x 3.5 cm
Provenance:
Private collection, Johannesburg.
COLLECTOR'S NOTE
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Johannes Phokela is currently included in, In Minor Keys, a critical exhibition at the 61st International Art Exhibition of The Venice Biennale, curated by the late Koyo Kouoh and on show until November 2026. This marks the artist’s return to Venice following his 2013 presentation in the South African Pavilion.
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Recently, in late 2024, Gallery 1957 in Accra, hosted Phokela's first solo exhibition with the gallery, Mineral Awesome: Ode to the Fountain of Zama Zama. The works used Dutch Golden Age pastiche to investigate the dark geopolitics of illicit mineral mining.
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From 2021 to 2023, Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town staged his major museum retrospective, Only Sun in the Sky Knows How I Feel (A Lucid Dream). The exhibition surveyed over three decades of his intellectually rigorous, postcolonial subversions of the Western art history canon.
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Phokela’s extensive four-decade career includes exhibitions at major global institutions, notably featuring in Body of Evidence at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. (2006), Personal Effects at the Museum for African Art in New York (2004), and Unpacking Europe at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (2001).
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Locally, he was honoured with a significant mid-career survey exhibition, I Like My Neighbours, hosted at the Standard Bank Gallery and the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) in 2009.
COLLECTIONS:
The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the Johannesburg Art Gallery; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.; Delfina Studio Trust, London; the London Arts Council Collection and the Iziko South African National Gallery.
The overall condition is good.
Please note, we are not qualified conservators and these reports give our opinion as to the general condition of the works. We advise that bidders view the lots in person to satisfy themselves with the condition of prospective purchases.
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Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art - Evening Sale, 18th Jun, 2026
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