Strauss & co - 15 February 2020, Cape Town

100  FRANCISCO VIDAL PORTUGUESE 1978– If I am Free it’s Because I am Always Running, No 2 signed and dated 15 oil and handmade recycled paper mounted on canvas 255 by 255cm R150 000 – 200 000 PROVENANCE Tiwani Contemporary, London. Private Collection. EXHIBITED Tiwani Contemporary, London, e-studio Luanda: African Industrial Revolution , 10 July to 15 August 2015. Vidal has titled this work – scrawled across the bottom of the painting – after a quote by the late Jimi Hendrix. When asked about the source of inspiration for his art, Vidal credits popular culture from the end of the 20th century. He explains “I saw a lot of television in the 80s, but also street communication like graffiti, hip-hop, MTV. My English is MTV English. I listened to a lot of Bob Marley and the Fugees, so there’s a lot of music and DJ-ing in the late 70s. There’s a lot of sampling, so there’s a lot of layers, a lot of ideas and rhythms and tones and colours. I think the culture of the 80s is a real influence and the painters of the 80s, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, a lot of different artists. Also, Andy Warhol and his silkscreen techniques and the idea of repetition…” 1 Francisco Vidal was part of the official selection for the Angolan Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015. 1. Emily Spicer. (2015) Francisco Vidal: ‘It’s an artist’s role to dream’ , [Online], Available: https://www.studiointernational.com/index. php/francisco-vidal-interview-workshop- maianga-mutamba-tiwani-contemporary- london [10 December, 2019]. 118