** All Works Now on Public View in Sotheby's New York Galleries **

NEW YORK, 4 May 2018 - Sotheby's is thrilled to unveil the full contents of Creating Space: Artists for The Studio Museum in Harlem: An Auction to Benefit the Museum’s New Building, which will highlight our marquee auctions of Contemporary Art this May in New York.

Throughout the spring, an intergenerational group of 42 prominent artists (*full list below) with close ties to the mission and history of The Studio Museum in Harlem have donated important works for auction at Sotheby's. The full proceeds of these works will support the campaign to construct the museum’s new home on 125th Street, designed by Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Cooper Robertson. The auction also celebrates the institution's 50th anniversary this year.

All 42 works are now on public exhibition in Sotheby's New York galleries. Paintings by Mark Bradford, Julie Mehretu, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Glenn Ligon and Njideka Akunyili Crosby will open our Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 16 May, with the remaining pieces highlighting the Day Auction on 17 May.

Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, said: "I’m profoundly touched by the tremendous generosity that artists and their representatives have demonstrated for this project. Artists are at the heart of everything the Studio Museum has done for the past fifty years – from our foundational Artist-in-Residence program to creating impactful exhibitions of artists of African descent at every stage in their careers. It means so much to have artists support us in creating this dynamic new building, where their work can engage the public even more deeply."

CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING AUCTION16 May

Mark BradfordSpeak, Birdman2018Estimate $2/3 million

Mark Bradford made his New York debut in Freestyle (2001), the first in the Studio Museum’s now-iconic “F-show” series of emerging artists, and in 2010-11 the museum staged his solo show Mark Bradford: Alphabet. Renowned for his large-scale works made from layers of salvaged paper, Bradford's expressive civic tapestries embody the urban experience as-lived. Created by the artist specifically for the Studio Museum's auction, Speak, Birdman is a stunning example of his cartographic works, dense with richly collaged comic book strips, silver paper, and rope, which have most recently been celebrated in his solo sold-out shows at Hauser & Wirth in Hong Kong and Los Angeles.

Julie MehretuConjured Parts (Dresden)2017Estimate $1/1.5 million

Julie Mehretu participated in the Studio Museum's Artist-in-Residence program from 2000-01, and her work most recently appeared in the exhibition Their Own Harlems (2017-18). Known for her highly ambitious, wonderfully dizzying and intricate masterpieces, Mehretu has distinguished herself as one of the leading artists of her generation. With its soft, multi-colored background, Conjured Parts (Dresden) is a particularly lyrical example of the artist's work. It is a particular privilege to offer this work in advance of Mehretu's highly-anticipated retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and subsequent venues, opening in 2019.

Lynette Yiadom-BoakyeAn Assistance of Amber2017Estimate $100/150,000

The Studio Museum has long supported British-Ghanaian artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, including presenting her first solo museum exhibition, Any Number of Preoccupations, in 2010-11. Yiadom-Boakye has been recognized for her generously rendered fictional figures, which appear to exist independently of narrative or history, instead allowing the viewer to rely on imagination and project his or her own story onto the work. An Assistance of Amber is an archetypal example of her elegant single-figure portraits, with the sitter’s densely-painted face absorbing the viewer.

Glenn LigonStranger #862016Estimate $1/1.5 million

Glenn Ligon’s long relationship with the Museum began with an internship in the 1980s, and his site-specific work Give Us a Poem has greeted Museum visitors since 2007 – and will be installed in the museum's new building. Language is a central theme in Ligon's practice, with his most iconic works being the large-scale canvases featuring words that have been stenciled, repeated, and layered to near illegibility as the phrase or sentence winds its way down the composition. Executed in encrusted black oil stick and enlivened with the delicate glimmer of coal dust, Stranger #86 hails from the artist's seminal series of paintings based on James Baldwin's 1953 essay "Stranger in the Village". The work creates a tension between the legible and illegible, the visible and invisible, ‘black space’ and ‘white space’ – thus throwing into sharp relief a multifaceted identity.

Njideka Akunyili CrosbyBush Babies2017Estimate $600/800,000

Njideka Akunyili Crosby participated in the museum’s Artist-in-Residence program in 2011-12, and was a recipient of the museum's Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize in 2015. Crosby's captivating paintings seamlessly straddle racial, geographic and socio-political concerns in an extraordinary embodiment of the increasingly transnational nature of the contemporary art world. Shown at the Prospect exhibition this year in New Orleans, Bush Babies layers densely-collaged imagery to form a lush, geometric still life.

SELECT WORKS FROM THE CONTEMPORARY ART DAY AUCTION17 May

Chris OfiliBlack Triangle 12018Estimate $300/400,000

Chris Ofili’s work has been shown frequently at the Studio Museum, notably in his solo exhibition Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995-2005 (2005). Part of the group of Young British Artists that fundamentally changed the contemporary art world, Ofili's diverse practice is anchored by his use of a mélange of materials to craft images that shift between figuration and abstraction. Executed by the artist specifically for this sale, Black Triangle 1 recalls the monumental oil and charcoal works the artist showed at his most recent solo exhibition at David Zwirner, New York.

Kehinde WileyCharles I2018Estimate $100/150,000

A Studio Museum Artist-in-Residence program from 2001-02, Kehinde Wiley’s work is a highlight of the Museum’s permanent collection, and has been featured in Museum exhibitions including Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar (2008). Charles I embodies many of the most important themes in the artist’s body of work, addressing notions of race, gender, and politics through the pictorial tropes of European portraiture. The present work was painted just this year, and incorporates the same floriate details and sensitivity to its subject matter that make Wiley's recently-unveiled portrait of President Barack Obama instantly iconic.

Sam GilliamRed Shoes2017Estimate $120/180,000

A seminal figure in the history of the Studio Museum, Sam Gilliam’s work has appeared in numerous shows at the institution, from 1969 to the present. Graphic and unapologetically vibrant, the present work channels the legacy of the artist’s groundbreaking investigations into form and color as well as his exploration of hard-edge abstraction. Red Shoes comes on the heels of Sotheby’s record-setting auction of the artist’s work in March 2018.

Toyin Ojih OdutolaFrom a Place of Goodness2017-2018Estimate $10/15,000

Born in 1985, Toyin Ojih Odutola has already been featured in two shows at the Studio Museum, underscoring the institution’s commitment to fostering young talent in the art world. The present work is an example of Odutola’s well-known series of portraits, most recently exhibited in 2017’s Toyin Ojih Odutola: To Wander Determined at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York – the artist’s solo debut in a major museum. Works by Toyin Ojih Odutola, a young artist on the rise, are very rare on the secondary market.

Rashid JohnsonUntitled Escape Collage2018Estimate $100/150,000

The Studio Museum has supported Rashid Johnson from the outset, exhibiting his work in the seminal 2001 exhibition, Freestyle, which is credited with launching his career. Untitled Escape Collage is an archetypal example of Johnson’s oeuvre, combining disparate materials and a variety of media into a composition that is unified by its symbolic connection and resonances with black history. The present work notably features one of the most symbolically-potent materials in Johnson’s arsenal: black soap.

*FULL LIST OF PARTICIPATING ARTISTS*Derrick Adams Kevin Beasley Sanford Biggers McArthur Binion Frank Bowling Mark Bradford Jordan Casteel Njideka Akunyili Crosby Stan Douglas Leonardo Drew Melvin Edwards Charles Gaines Theaster Gates Sam Gilliam Leslie Hewitt Steffani Jemison Rashid Johnson Isaac Julien Titus Kaphar Glenn Ligon Eric N. Mack Julie Mehretu Wardell Milan Oscar Murillo Wangechi Mutu Kori Newkirk Toyin Ojih Odutola Chris Ofili Adam Pendleton Robert Pruitt Yinka Shonibare MBE Gary Simmons Xaviera Simmons Lorna Simpson Shinique Smith Hank Willis Thomas William Villalongo Nari Ward Carrie Mae Weems Stanley Whitney Kehinde Wiley Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

About The Studio Museum in Harlem Founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, The Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the work of artists of African descent. Now approaching its 50th anniversary, the Studio Museum is preparing to construct a new home at its current location on Manhattan’s West 125th Street. Designed by Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, the 82,000 square foot facility will be the first created expressly for the Museum’s program. The new building will enable the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection, and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program.

While the Studio Museum’s galleries are currently closed in preparation for a late Fall 2018 groundbreaking, the Museum is working to deepen its roots in the community through in Harlem, a dynamic set of collaborative programs in the neighborhood. The Museum’s groundbreaking exhibitions, thought-provoking conversations, and engaging art-making workshops continue at a variety of partner and satellite locations in Harlem. For more information visit studiomuseum.org or: youtube.com/studiomuseum facebook.com/studiomuseum Twitter and Instagram: @studiomuseum