"In all my art books, African artists are in the last chapter, if at all…I want you to look at my work and think, ‘That’s exquisite, that’s incredible, I am blown away — and I know it is completely African,’ without feeling that it is lacking."
— Cinga Samson
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There is a haunting beauty in Cinga Samson's Ivory V, evoked not only by the ethereal figure at the forefront of the composition whose radiant, pupil-less eyes appear rolled back in reverie, but also in the Samson’s ability to confront the viewer's gaze whilst giving very little away of the emotions underpinning his subject's confident, stylised stance. Mysterious but beckoning, and silent yet vibrant, this aesthetic tension is at the core of the South African artist's oeuvre, rooted in his grounding philosophy of: 'The painting is not for you. The painting is for itself.' i
As the final canvas of his five-part Ivory series and the first work by the artist to be offered at auction in Asia, Ivory V exquisitely encapsulates the potency of Samson’s unique painterly approach, described by The New York Times as a ‘commitment to excellence’ that ‘prove[s] [Samson] to be a vital emerging figure in contemporary painting.’ ii Emblematic of the artist’s up-and-coming presence in the art world, White Cube announced its global representation of the artist in May 2021, with his first solo exhibition with the gallery scheduled to open in London in 2022.