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EVENING SalE
Con temporary art 17
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oc tob Er
2009
7pm
loNDoN
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Lots 1- 4 4 Viewing Saturday 10 October, 10am – 6pm Sunday 11 October, 12pm – 6pm Monday 12 October – Friday 16 October, 10am – 6pm Saturday 17 October, 10am – 12pm
Front Cover Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, 1958-60, Lot 30 (detail) title Page Jean-Michel Basquiat, Year of the Boar, 1983, Lot 12 (detail) Frontispiece Martin Kippenberger, Big Until Great Hunger, 1984, Lot 6 (detail) Back Cover Jim Hodges, The Good News (De Morgen), 2006, Lot 3 (detail)
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1
DAN WALSH b. 1960 Layout, 1992 Acrylic on canvas. 173 x 228.5 cm. (68 1/8 x 90 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘D. WALSH LAYOUT 1992’ on the stretcher bar.
Estimate £ 2 5 , 0 0 0 - 3 5 , 0 0 0
$ 41, 3 0 0 - 57, 9 0 0
€28,60 0 - 40,0 0 0
‡
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist exhibited New York, Rubenstein/Diacono Gallery, Dan Walsh and Scott Grodesky,
12 December, 1992 - 23 January, 1993
Dan Walsh’s homogeneous, non-figurative oeuvre of largescale geometric compositions draws upon the extensive visual vocabularly of Minimal art. From afar, the low-slung, monumentally horizontal paintings are reminiscent of Ad Reinhardt’s subliminal plaids or Sol LeWitt’s optical illusions, yet up close Walsh’s thin tints, dry primaries and inconsistent hand drawn lines and shapes throw out any formal/minimalist associations. The present lot, a colourless canvas from 1992, typifies the artist’s early fascination with resolutely geometric pared-down compositions of black lines on white backgrounds. Like an algorithmic blueprint, the notion of endless expansion is suggested by a repetition of grid lines stacked on top of each other and which appear to advance and recede simultaneously creating the optical illusion of gravity and weightlessness. ‘Walsh pipes subversive representational tropes and associative color schema into the rarefied air of purist abstraction- tactics employed by other contemporary hard edged painters, such as Gary Hume and Clay Ketter. However, Walsh’s paintings manage to avoid the forensic coldness often associated with such manoeuvers. It’s as if decaying tones from the first chords of abstraction, struck in the dawning years of the 20th century, gain in harmonic sweetness as they pass through time and resonate in these canvases.’ (R. Boyce, Dan Walsh, in Art in America, July, 2003)
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2
Michael elMgreen & ingar Dragset b. 1961 & b. 1969 Marriage, 2004 2 mirrors, 2 porcelain sinks, 2 taps, stainless steel tubing, soap. Approximate overall installation dimensions: 178 x 168 x 81 cm. (70 x 66 x 32 in). This work is unique from a series of three works, each with different curves in the stainless tubing. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artists.
estimate £ 2 5 , 0 0 0 - 3 5 , 0 0 0
$ 41, 3 0 0 - 57, 9 0 0
€28,60 0 - 40,0 0 0 ♠‡
Provenance Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen exhibited Malmö Konsthall, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, This is the first
day of my life, 10 March - 6 May, 2007; La Biennale di Venezia, 53rd International Art Exhibition, Making Worlds, The Danish & Nordic Pavillions, Elmgreen & Dragset: The Collectors, June-November, 2009 (another example exhibited) Literature Exhibition catalogue, Malmö Konsthall, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar
Dragset, This is the first day of my life, Ostfildern, 2007, p. 306 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, La Biennale di Venezia, 53rd International Art Exhibition, Making Worlds, The Danish & Nordic Pavillions, Elmgreen & Dragset: The Collectors, Venice, 2009, p. 28 (another example illustrated)
The thought provoking, large scale, conceptual oeuvre of Scandinavian artistic duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset is a clever, subversive and humorous pastiche of the human sociopolitical condition. As the title suggests, the present lot, Marriage from 2004, is a work, highly loaded in meaning, comprised of two sets of mirrors, sinks and taps representing man and wife with perhaps the soap on the left hand sink a stand in for the male genitalia. The couple’s union is wittily depicted by the shared drain piping which humorously and absurdly leads only to each basin, rendering each sink useless. Used to cleanse and flush bodily fluids, the shiny stainless steel drain pipe tubing with its sinuous, flowing curves, is an obvious reference to entangled spousal flesh on a first night of passion. The work of Elmgreen and Dragset, with Marriage as a prime example, visually and thematically builds upon the consequential oeuvre of the American artist Robert Gober and his evocative sculptural installations. Like Gober, who produced a celebrated body of work dealing with the sexual connotations and implications of the drain, Elmgreen and Dragset, in the present lot, masterfully uncover the uncanny in the everyday. Using familiar, apparently innocuous objects, they poignantly comment on the institution of marriage and the role sexuality plays in contemporary society. Existing in three different versions, each with unique curves of the stainless steel drain pipe tubing, another work from the series is currently exhibited at Elmgreen and Dragset’s critically acclaimed pavilion at the Venice Biennale, The Collectors.
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3
JIM HODGES b. 1957 The Good News (De Morgen), 2006 24 carat gold leaf on newspaper. Open: 53 x 73 cm. (20 1/8 x 28 3/4 in).
Estimate £ 5 0 , 0 0 0 -70 , 0 0 0
$ 8 2 ,70 0 -118 , 0 0 0
€ 57,10 0 -7 9, 9 0 0
Provenance CRG Gallery, New York
Using a wide range of media, the American artist Jim Hodges has over the last twenty years created a complex oeuvre layered with meaning. Exploring universal themes such as life, death, nature, beauty and the passing of time, his work can be seen as a coming to terms with life and his own sense of self. Interlaced with deeply personal references yet communal in spirit, this form of selfportraiture evades the direct gaze of the viewer and invites many other readings. The present lot, The Good News (De Morgen) – a magnificently delicate and beautiful work – is comprised of a copy of the Belgian daily newspaper, De Morgen, each page covered in 24 carat gold leaf with only the page number left visible at the top corner. In a manner reminiscent of On Kawara and using a medium, goldleaf, with a long art historical tradition from the Rennaissance to the present day, Hodges poetically captures a moment in time, commemorating the day this artwork was made. However, instead of creating a time capsule where the viewer is invited to ponder that day’s events, Hodges performs an erasure of time and significance, literally covering up the news. Enveloped in the material of kings and biblically titled, the present lot’s sheer, shining beauty enduces in the viewer a certain stillness and calmness, a contemplative state only attainable when confronted with a monochromatic artwork. Like so much of Hodges’ oeuvre, The Good News (De Morgen) evokes a sense of turmoil and self reflection that is so romantically tragic that it can’t help but be beautiful.
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4
STERLING RUBY b. 1972 Monument Stalagmite/Recombine Black & Yellow, 2006 PVC pipe, plastic urethane, wood, formica plinth. 366 x 81.5 x 91.5 cm. (144 1/4 x 32 1/4 x 36 in). This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
Estimate £ 8 0 , 0 0 0 -12 0 , 0 0 0
$13 2 , 0 0 0 -19 8 , 0 0 0
€ 91,4 0 0 -13 7, 0 0 0
Provenance Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan exhibited Milan, Galleria Emi Fontana, Recombines, 25 May - 28 July, 2006 Literature Exhibition catalogue, The Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA Focus:
Sterling Ruby. Supermax 2008, Los Angeles, 2008, p. 44 (illustrated)
‘Ruby’s oversized vertical accumulations recall both the utopian formal idiom of Expressionist architecture and the fleshiness of a Paul Thek ‘meat’ sculpture. Resembling both stalactites and stalagmites, these sculptures are created in a process wherein urethane and paint are allowed to accumulate in flows and drips, in the middle of which they are frozen and flipped upside down. Suggesting abject phalluses whose colors evoke bodily fluids, they are above all monumentalizations of gesture- indeed, by inverting the drip, Ruby foregrounds it as a gesture in search of a subject. But these sublime biomorphic formations are defined by their process of becoming, butressed by unpretentious support structures on which text has been inscribed.’ (P. Kaiser, ‘Sterling Ruby: Analytical Expressions’, in exhibition catalogue, The Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA Focus: Sterling Ruby. Supermax 2008, Los Angeles, 2008, p. 18)
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martin kippenberger property from the bleich-rossi collection
Martin Kippenberger, Gabriella and Alexander Bleich-Rossi, Innsbruck, 1990
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Phillips de Pury & Company is proud to announce the sale of four key works by Martin Kippenberger from the Bleich-Rossi Collection. This collection forms a vibrant and instrumental archive of Martin Kippenberger’s life and working practice in his defining years through the 1980s and 1990s. Offered for sale is the seminal painting Big Until Great Hunger, from 1984, the much exhibited sculpture Kippenblinky, the impressive triptych Der Herr Joszi and the sculpture Minimüllcontainer - a centrepiece that has been referenced throughout Kippenberger’s oeuvre. In addition, we are pleased to present the exhibition of the Bleich-Rossi Collection of works by Kippenberger and his collaborators at our exclusive space at Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York Headquarters, on 7 – 24 October 2009. The exhibited collection is available for private sale. The Bleich-Rossi Gallery was established in Graz by Gabriella and Alexander Bleich-Rossi in 1982. As the cornerstone of Graz’s art scene, the Bleich-Rossi Gallery quickly rose to prominence and was regarded as “the pioneer of the new gallery-scene in Graz”. Since her husband’s death in 1994 Gabriella Bleich-Rossi has continued to run the gallery and has always remained faithful to its initial programme. In the last 25 years the gallery has consistently and passionately pursued the debate on contemporary Austrian and international art. It continues to place an emphasis on exhibiting artists, such as Merlin Carpenter, Michael Krebber, Jutta Koether and Cosima von Bonin, who are direct successors to Martin Kippenberger, Albert Oehlen and Jörg Schlick. In November 1984 Alexander Bleich-Rossi, accompanied by Jörg Schlick, met Martin Kippenberger in the coffee house Kaffee Alt Wien in Vienna. At that time, Kippenberger was in the capital preparing for an exhibition and was collaborating on various projects with Albert Oehlen. That night Kippenberger and Schlick enthused over the idea of an exhibition of collages at Bleich-Rossi Gallery with Albert Oehlen and Wolfgang Bauer. Kippenberger’s excitement about this prospect instantaneously convinced her husband to offer his gallery space. This resulted in Kippenberger’s first exhibition at the gallery entitled Kritische Orangen für Verdauungsdorf (Critical Oranges for Digestion Village). It marked the beginning of a long and historic relationship between the BleichRossis and Kippenberger. In an interview with Gabriella Bleich-Rossi she recalled how her husband “was full of admiration for Kippenberger’s mental vigour, vitality and independence. He was the most exciting living artist of his time. Martin’s work provoked people, particularly the saturated lethargic people. He provoked them and forced them to think. His art was beaming with originality and quality. Both, our collectors and our environment, initially reacted very sceptically towards him. It was our own excitement and admiration for Martin that motivated our collectors to realise his importance.” (Interview with Gabriella Bleich-Rossi and Silke Taprogge, 15.09.2009)
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Throughout his life Kippenberger found his home in the people he surrounded himself with: “We were Martin’s family in Graz and he loved me to pamper him during his stay in our apartment. Every time he came to visit us in Graz, which was quite frequently, it was like a celebration. We always had parties or dinners which we organized in our home. Martin was crazy about Italian cuisine and relished those nights” (Interview with Gabriella Bleich-Rossi and Silke Taprogge, 15.09.2009). Kippenberger idolized Gabriella Bleich-Rossi; to him she was a figure of the Italian Dolce Vita. Aside from her captivating beauty and high-spirited nature she was also incredibly caring towards the artist, a quality which was much revered by Kippenberger. His sister recalls “He liked it when people cooked for him, because he liked being mothered. Best of all he liked…comfort food that reminded him of his own childhood home: pasta bake and spaghetti bolognaise.” (S. Kippenberger, ‘Heimweh Highway or: Start Simple Get Home’, exhibition catalogue, Tate, Martin Kippenberger, London, 2006, p.53) Obviously Graz was just one of the many places Kippenberger called home. Well-known for being an illustrious traveller Kippenberger continually experienced a sense of restlessness in his life. “Instead of looking for an apartment of his own, Martin would move in with other people, into a readymade nest, where he could lay his eggs undisturbed, but which he could leave again whenever he liked. ‘Housemate’, as he described himself on a poster or house ‘squatter’ as grandmother Grässlin once complained… ‘the Kippenbergerisation of the world’ as it was known” (S. Kippenberger, ‘Heimweh Highway or: Start Simple Get Home’, exhibition catalogue, Tate, Martin Kippenberger, London, 2006, p.54). Kippenberger occupied a part of many people’s lives during his lifetime and the relationships he shared with them were manifested in his art. His art indispensably involved other people and his working practice was centered around social networks and
Martin Kippenberger, Eurobummel I, Exhibition Party, June 1989
collaborations of varying kinds: with artists, gallerists, assistants and in fact practically anyone he could lay his hands on. Gabriella Bleich-Rossi
Kippenberger reinvented the role of the artist and by extension the role of
recalls how “Martin created a sort of ‘family circle’ in our gallery. His working
assistants. Without exception he pushed conventional boundaries whilst
practice was in the true meaning of the word ‘collaborative’. Primarily this
retaining a palpable hierarchy where he reigned as the unconditional
circle consisted of other artists whom he befriended like Oehlen, Michael
ruler. “Kippenberger’s work with his assistants is legendary; he not only
Krebber - his assistant at the time- and Schlick. Martin’s friendship in
engaged their technical skills but also appropriated their ideas… When he
particular with Albert was always extremely important to him and he always
said “Every picture I see belongs to me the instant I understand it” it was
stated that he considered him to be one of the most important painters from
not only the work that he saw outside of his studio that he embraced as
Germany. Likewise he thought of his assistant Krebber as an artistic genius.
his own, but also the ideas and images of such artists as Krebber…[and]
The collaboration between the individual artists was always extremely
Strothjohann…, amongst others, who literally conceived and produced
productive for each of them and always conducted in a very professional
his works.” (A. Goldstein, ‘The Problem Perspective’, MOCA LA, The MIT
manner.” (Interview with Gabriella Bleich-Rossi and Silke Taprogge,
Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, 2008, p.103). His
15.09.2009).
twenty-year career encompassed countless drawings - most prominently realised in the famed ‘HOTEL’ drawings - sculptures, publications, photographs, installations and paintings. Anything that Kippenberger encountered or experienced, whether people, places, films, conversations or ideas could form the basis of inspiration for a work. Parallels have been drawn between Kippenberger’s all-encompassing approach to his work and that of his contemporaries: artists such as Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol and Richard Prince, who were also examining ideas of consumerism, representation, reproduction and the media in their work. Gabriella BleichRossi observes that at the time “Martin was one of the very few, if not the only real protagonists of the contemporary art world. Aside from being recognized as one of the most important painters of our time, he unfolded his natural talent as a manager, producer, actor, film-maker and promoter”. (Interview with Gabriella Bleich-Rossi and Silke Taprogge, 15.09.2009). When mounting the blockbuster exhibition The Triumph of Painting in 2005 Charles Saatchi exclaimed “Kippenberger! The Picasso of our times!... I’m certain of it. In twenty years people will see it. Like Picasso he was never
Ulrich Strothjohann and Merlin Carpenter,
committed to any one style. Perhaps I should have done just a Kippenberger
Fallen und Fallen Lassen, Exhibition, 1991
show.” (P. Lee, ‘If Everything Is Good, Then Nothing Is Any Good Any
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More’, The Problem Perspective, MOCA LA, The MIT Press, Cambridge,
city of Venice. By referencing the city’s famed attractions of Murano
Massachusetts, London, England, 2008, p.191). Phillips de Pury’s exhibition
glass and decadent chandeliers combined with smoking paraphernalia
of the Bleich-Rossi Collection is the first time that Kippenberger and his
Kippenberger creates an analogy to the touristic petit bourgeoisie. The
associates will be shown together in London and thus marks an exceptional
tryptich entitled Der Herr Joszi, as Gabriella Bleich Rossi explains, is a
moment. Furthermore, we are truly thankful that Ulrich Strothjohann, one
portrait of a waiter at the locally renowned Café Glockenspiel in Austria.
of Kippenbergers most renowned installers, his fellow artist and friend, has
The café was located in close proximity to the Bleich-Rossi Gallery and
installed the Bleich-Rossi Collection of Kippenberger and his collaborators
Kippenberger was a regular visitor - or rather ‘ruler’ - there. Herr Joszi was
at the Phillips de Pury space in the Saatchi Gallery.
one of the last Hungarian figures who represented the coffee shop culture of the Austrian Hungarian monarchy. Dressed in his dinner jacket and his black
Each one of the four works offered for sale at auction bears its own meaning,
pomaded hair, Herr Joszi was an object of fascination to Kippenberger as an
value and significance within Kippenberger’s life and work:
embodiment of the Austrian history and culture.
Big Until Great Hunger is a seminal oil painting conceived for the installation Familie Hunger. “The catalyst for Familie Hunger was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear
Alexander and Gabriella Bleich-Rossi were always passionate collectors.
Window (1954), which features an artist who produced a sculpture with a hole
Their collection is particularly fascinating because its importance is
in it that she titled Hunger.” (D.Diederichsen, ‘ The Poor Man’s Sports Car
interwoven with the relationship and friendship they shared with Martin
Descending a Staircase: Kippenberger as Sculptor’ The Problem Perspective,
Kippenberger from 1985 to 1996. Gabriella Bleich-Rossi says that “when
MOCA LA, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England,
you met Martin Kippenberger you were confronted with only two options:
2008, p. 144). The painting has been exhibited alongside the installation
you loved him or you hated him. For both of us, my husband and myself, I
Familie Hunger in galleries and international institutions such as the
think it was ‘love at first sight’. For myself I was fascinated with the irony
important retrospective in 2006, Martin Kippenberger, at Tate Modern and the
through which Martin approached every aspect of life. He was always
K21 Kunstsammlung in Düsseldorf. The Minimüllcontainer was executed for
capable of a clear and objective idea of things yet he always had an air of
the 1987 exhibition Die Reise nach Jerusalem and was used as the cover image
sovereignty about him. As a person I was moved by his longing for love and
for the exhibition catalogue. The title of the exhibition takes its namesake in
his loneliness.” (Interview with Gabriella Bleich-Rossi and Silke Taprogge,
German from the game Musical Chairs – where music is played as children
15.09.2009)
run around a circle of chairs. There is always one chair less than the number of children. When the music stops each child has to sit down in a chair. The child without a chair is then out of the game. Minimüllcontainer, as an inflated garbage bag, embodies notions of loneliness and of being an ‘outsider’, notions that were close to Kippenberger. In Kippenblinky, another widely exhibited object, Kippenberger uses connotations attached to the romantic
Martin Kippenberger, Eurobummel I, Exhibition Party, June 1989
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Martin Kippenberger, Hotel-Hotel, 1992
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Life sized, Kippenberger has created an elegant and sophisticated work of art out of a banal object, a lamp which would not look out of place in the interior of an opulent Venetian palace. In fact, Italy was one of Kippenberger’s favorite holiday destinations as much for its opulence as its food. Kippenberger who, ever the collector, always brought back kitsch souvenirs from his travels, was fascinated when in Venice by the ornate, baroque inspired furnishings and decorative objects that filled to the brim the Venetian homes of the local bourgeoisie. In a comic, absurd twist however, Kippenberger decided to create a series of nine Kippenblinkys made of resin and smoking paraphernalia, not exactly materials one would normally associate with a lamp. The title would appear to make reference to its use, “blinky” possibly referring to its function of being turned on or turned off. Apparently useful, yet utterly trivial, Kippenblinky, is simultaneously intriguing, yet absurd, functional yet highly kitsch. In using a word and presenting an object that sounds very much like his own surname, Kippenblinky represents the ultimate personification of the artist and his message. “I am not a ‘real’ painter, nor a ‘real’ sculptor, I only look at all that from the outside and sometimes try my hand at it, trying to add my own particular spice. I’m not interested in provoking people, but Installation view, Entre deux actes - Loge de comedienne, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 2009, © Estate Martin Kippenberger, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Image: Wolfgang Günzel, Frankfurt
only in trying to be consoling. I always think of the things I do, quite unambiguously, as truly living vehicles. Assuming roles is something that simply won’t work for me, since I don’t have a style. None at all. My style is where you the individual and where a personality is communicated through actions, decisions, single objects and facts, where the whole draws together to form a history.” (M. Kippenberger interviewed by Jutta Koehler, Flash Art, 1990
5
MARTIN KIPPENBERGER 1953-1997 Kippenblinky, 1991 Resin, smoking pipes, wood, metal and glass. 176 x 40.5 x 40.5 cm. (69 1/4 x 16 x 16 in). This work is unique from a series of nine.
Estimate £ 8 0 , 0 0 0 -12 0 , 0 0 0
$13 2 , 0 0 0 -19 8 , 0 0 0
€ 91,4 0 0 -13 7, 0 0 0
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist exhibited New York, David Nolan Gallery, Kippenblinkys, 1991 (another example
exhibited); Vienna, Tiefes Kehlchen (Deep Throat), 1991 (another example exhibited); San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, Put Your Eye in Your Mouth, 1991 (another example exhibited); Graz, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger, 26 November, 1992 – 2 January, 1993; Hamburg, ‘The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘America,’ 1999; Kunstverein Braunschweig, Martin Kippenberger, Multiples, 28 February – 4 May, 2003 (another example exhibited); New York, Per Skarsted Gallery, Martin Kippenberger, 2004 (another example exhibited); Vienna, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger- 25 Years, 1 December, 2007 – 10 January, 2008 Literature Exhibition catalogue, Martin Kippenberger, The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s
‘America,’ Hamburg, 1999, p. 64 (another example illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Martin Kippenberger, Multiples, Cologne, 2003, p. 108 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger, Vienna, 2007, p. 119 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Problem Perspective, Cambridge, 2008, p. 177 (another example illustrated)
Kippenblinky, a beautifully crafted sculpture comprised of smoking pipes imbedded in cast resin, is a prime example of an important motif in Martin Kippenberger’s oeuvre, the lamp. Revisiting and developing a theme which had a strong autobiographical resonance, alcohol and smoking, Kippenberger created his first ‘drunken street lamp’ in 1987, with his most famous lamp coming in 1992 for Documenta IX. Clearly influenced in this body of work by Marcel Duchamp, Kippenberger is engaging in the long art historical debate
Installation view, Martin Kippenberger, Sammlung Grässlin, St.
of the ready made, the dichotomy between high art and low art,
Georgen, © Estate Martin Kippenberger, Galerie Gisela Capitain,
between art and craft.
Cologne, Image: Wolfgang Günzel
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6
MARTIN KIPPENBERGER 1953-1997 Big Until Great Hunger, 1984 Oil and silicon on canvas in the artist’s frame.180 x 150 cm. (70 7/8 x 59 in).
Estimate £ 4 0 0 , 0 0 0 - 6 0 0 , 0 0 0
$ 6 61, 0 0 0 - 9 9 2 , 0 0 0
€ 4 57, 0 0 0 - 6 8 5 , 0 0 0 Provenance Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne exhibited Graz, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger, 1990; London, Tate
Modern, Martin Kippenberger, 8 February – 14 May, 2006; Dusseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrheinwestfalen K21, Martin Kippenberger, 10 June – 10 September, 2006; Vienna, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger- 25 Years, 1 December, 2007 – 10 January, 2008 Literature Exhibition catalogue, Tate Modern, Martin Kippenberger, London, 2006,
p. 89 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger- 25 Years, Vienna, 2007, p. 114 (illustrated)
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By the time of his death in 1997, Martin Kippenberger was the leading German artist of his generation, considered painting’s fearless outspoken critic and also its great anti-hero. Unlike a previous generation of artists who, under the influence of Joseph Beuys, viewed the artist as a shamanistic saviour of sorts, Kippenberger’s generation viewed the artist as a symptom of the cyclic regression from Capitalism to Fascism and back again. With respect to the role of the artist as the guardian of utopian or transcendental longings, Kippenberger was neither a pessimist nor an optimist but an existentialist in the truest sense. For him, individuals are free agents in a deterministic and seemingly meaningless universe. Controversial, ironic, bad boy of German contemporary art, Kippenberger experienced all kinds of nicknames, but even when disparaged by the establishment, he continually shaped and influenced its scene. The present lot, Big Until Great Hunger, is a large scale, powerfully executed canvas from a body of work in which Kippenberger confronted the question of sculpture in a fundamental way. Comprised of oil and silicone on canvas, it is a painted representation of a sculpture from his mid 80s series collectively titled Familie Hunger- a body of work metaphorically representing a starved
Martin Kippenberger, Untitled, 1988
family. The catalyst for the Familie Hunger series was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) in which an artist produces a modernist sculpture with
mockery of the rigidity of the geometry of modernist sculpture, a subversion
a whole in it and titles it Hunger. A lover of food, especially Italian, the film’s
of Cubist spatial deconstruction as well as Suprematist compositions.
sculpture must have resonated with Kippenberger and he immediately
Kippenberger pokes fun at Henry Moore, pokes fun at himself, pokes fun
set out to create a body of work around the notion of a hole in a sculpture,
at the art world and the role of the artist in contemporary society. Big Until
literally representing a hole in the stomach and figuratively representing
Great Hunger is a prime example from his consequential, diverse oeuvre that
a sense of loss, an emptiness, a fear of not having enough, not having a
everything and anything had the potential to be a joke for Kippenberger and
family, of being alone. With a largely autobiographical oeuvre, Kippenberger
to be ridiculed in his art.
would famously return a few years later to this theme in his acclaimed Picasso inspired self portrait series in which he represents himself grossly
‘A self deprecating start becomes the overture to a monumental practice. By
overweight and sadly alone.
casting a scrutinizing glare at contemporary art practice, and adopting the attitude that all is fair game to be seized upon at any moment as material,
In Big Until Great Hunger, Kippenberger’s nod to modernist abstraction is
the crippling civility of respect was disarmed by Kippenberger. What was
tempered by the slightly cartoonish usage of clear silicone gel that overlays
regarded as secure and beyond repute could be upended at any moment,
the whole image. As is Kippenberger’s custom throughout his oeuvre,
not perhaps, by noble gestures but, at least, by welcome useful ones.’ (S.
Big Until Great Hunger, a somewhat non-sensical title, can be viewed as a
Prina in G. Adriani, Martin Kippenberger: Das 2. Sein, Karlsruhe, 2003, p. 162) Fam
Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954
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Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954
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Familie Hunger, installation view, Martin Kippenberger, K21, D체sseldorf, 2006
Detail of exhibition poster Familie Hunger, published on the occasion of the Familie Hunger, 1985
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exhibition at Galerie B채rbel Gr채sslin, 1985
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7
MARTIN KIPPENBERGER 1953-1997
In ways that are both surprisingly formal and surprisingly tender, Mr.
Minimüllcontainer, 1987
Kippenberger’s work comments on the surfeit of things in the world
Rubber and pump. 90 x 50 x 70 cm. (35 1/2 x 19 3/4 x 27 1/2 in).
Estimate £ 8 0 , 0 0 0 -12 0 , 0 0 0
$13 2 , 0 0 0 -19 8 , 0 0 0
€ 91,4 0 0 -13 7, 0 0 0
-things unloved, overlooked and discarded - and on their fluctuating proximity to art and sculpture. The strategies in use here have their roots in Process Art and its European counterpart, Arte Povera.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist. exhibited Graz, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Die Reise nach Jerusalem, 19 November - 20
But mainly, Mr. Kippenberger seems to offer a three-dimensional
December, 1987 ;Vienna, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger- 25 Years, 1
equivalent of the improvisational appropriation practiced by a
December, 2007 – 10 January, 2008
somewhat older West German painter, Sigmar Polke.’ (R. Smith,
Literature Exhibition catalogue, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Die Reise nach Jerusalem,
‘Art: Martin Kippenberger Sculptures’, in The New York Times, 20
Graz ,1987 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger, Vienna, 2007, pp. 49-50 (illustrated)
November, 1987)
Minimüllcontainer was one of the centerpieces in Martin Kippenberger’s 1987 exhibition at Galerie Bleich-Rossi titled Die Reise nach Jerusalem, literally translating as The Journey to Jerusalem, the German naming of the very popular children’s post war pastime, the game of musical chairs. An engaging, participative art work, in the present lot comprised of, as its title suggests, a inflatable garbage bag and an air pump, the viewer is invited to ‘play’ with the bag, inflating it and deflating it with the fascination and insouciance of a young child. Humorously yet poignantly capturing the essence of Kippenberger’s oeuvre, the fact that anything can be art, literally trash in this case, Minimüllcontainer is a mature work from an artist at the height of his artistic powers. ‘An exhibition of Martin Kippenberger’s sculptures, resembles, upon first encounter, an overcrowded fire sale. The exhibition has an air of disarming nonchalance and irrationality. This accounts for its strength - a careening, chaotic energy - and also for its frequent descents into self-indulgent silliness. Anything goes with Mr. Kippenberger, and nothing is sacred. He means to question many of the basic assumptions about sculpture: the importance of craft, of beautiful or costly materials, of visual logic itself. His objects often seem incompetently built, capriciously structured and arbitrarily titled. Their modest materials and occasional found objects are devoid of esthetic value; their crowded installation defies vision, challenging the viewer to see any one of them as sculpture per se.
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Heavy Burschi, installation view, Martin Kippenberger, Tate Modern, London, 2006, Š Estate Martin Kippenberger, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
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8
MARTIN KIPPENBERGER 1953-1997 Der Herr Joszi, 1987 Triptych: mixed media on canvas in the artist’s frames. Each: 90 x 75 cm. (35 ½ x 29 ½ in). Signed and dated ‘Martin Kippenberger 1987’ on the reverse of each canvas.
Estimate £ 3 5 0 , 0 0 0 - 5 0 0 , 0 0 0
$ 57 9 , 0 0 0 - 8 2 7, 0 0 0
€ 3 4 0 , 0 0 0 - 571, 0 0 0 Provenance Acquired directly from the artist exhibited Vienna, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Die Reise nach Jerusalem, 19 November
– 20 December, 1987; Vienna, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger- 25 Years, 1 December, 2007 – 10 January, 2008 Literature Exhibition catalogue, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Martin Kippenberger- 25
Years, Vienna, 2007 (illustrated on the cover)
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Exhibition catalogue, verso, Die Reise nach Jerusalem, Graz, 1987
Loosely executed with the immediacy of a sketch, Joszi is represented from the torso up, in three-quarter pose, elegantly dressed in his full dinner jacket, his ‘uniform’ at the Café Glockenspiel. In each of the evocative portraits his eyes are depicted using beads giving Joszi a powerful presence, a certain sense of three dimensionality as if he is about to pop out of the portraits. The Biblical scenes in plastic bas-relief adorning each canvas and the golden halo on the central panel executed in a thick resin are perhaps a testament to Herr Joszi’s deep catholic faith. Often depicting his friends, the people he encountered on a daily basis, this triptych portrait is a prime example of Martin Kippenberger’s highly personal oeuvre. The artistic practice of Exhibition poster, Die Reise nach Jerusalem, 1987
painting one’s peers and contemporaries has a long tradition in art, most famously with the Impressionists, with van Gogh and Manet, the artists
Often referred to as the enfant terrible of his generation, Kippenberger’s diverse approach to painting, together with his unique artistic twists and turns has influenced the contemporary art scene and artists working today, both in content and form. Although nearly ten years since his untimely death, the artist’s iconoclastic attitude to painting has kept his spirit very much alive. His oeuvre has been recognised for its formal merits and artistic relevance – Kippenberger is one of the icons of his time. As a post-war child of a country coming to terms with its past, Kippenberger became best known for his large scale canvases covered with thickly applied paint that frequently confronted his viewers with juxtapositions of motifs and ambiguous titles.
working in late 19th century Paris and France. In fact, Der Herr Joszi is very much reminiscent of a suite of paintings, collectively titled L’Arlésienne which van Gogh did of his close friend, the café owner Madame Ginoux. Furthering the comparison between Kippenberger and van Gogh, the two genial yet mentally unstable artists share much in common artistically- stylistically and thematically- but most tragically, a premature death at a time when each artist was at the height of his respective powers. Given that Vincent van Gogh is now unanimously recognized as certainly the greatest artist of his generation if not the history of art, it is evident that with time Martin Kippenberger will be bestowed that same honour.
His works often took on a humorous and ironic approach, trying to deal with a collective past which would overshadow the physical substance of his art at the time of its execution. Kippenberger’s paintings have quoted, mocked and comically blended traditional composition and formal arrangement with vibrant colours and unique perspective. His personal explorations as an artist helped him to produce paintings influenced by photorealism and impasto laden figuration to quirky, architecturally inspired abstraction, EuroPop and paintings with unconventional media. The present lot is an intimate triptych portrait of Martin Kippenberger’s friend Herr Joszi, a waiter at the renowned Café Glockenspiel in Graz, Austria. Located near the Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Kippenberger often frequented when in town this Austrian-Hungarian monarchic establishment where the local high society mingled dressed to the nines. Ever the showman, Kippenberger’s larger than life, eccentric personality which inevitably made him the center of attention belied in a deep sense of insecurity and doubt in his ability and place in the world.
Installation view, Artfair RAI Amsterdam, 1989
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Edouard Manet, Bar aux Folies Bergere, 1882
“The boundaries between art and life, public and private, were not so much traversed in Kippenberger’s enterprise as they were destabilized through his embrace of their contradictions. That instability is fundamental to his challenge to the spectator. To encounter a work by Kippenberger is to experience the discomfort and embarrassment of getting too close, of knowing more than one would wish to know or admit, of confronting something that is banal and annoying, that dismisses received notions of right or wrong. His work is not simply about getting to the truth or unearthing dirty secrets, but about uncovering the mechanisms that produce meaning and the ways in which they define the role and position of the artist.” (A. Goldstein, ‘The Problem Perspective,” Martin Kippenberger’: in The Problem Perspective, Cambridge, 2008, p. 40).
Detail of the present lot
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Vincent van Gogh, L’Arlesienne, 1888
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9
JONATHAN MEESE b. 1970 Napoleon, 2006 Cast, patinated bronze. 185 x 68 x 67 cm. (72 3/4 x 26 3/4 x 26 1/2 in). Incised with the artist’s initials, dated ‘JM 06’ and numbered of three on the reverse of the right foot. This work is from an edition of three plus an artist’s proof.
Estimate £120,000-180,000
$198,000-298,000
€137,000-206,000 ♠‡
Provenance Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin; Private Collection, New York exhibited Munich, Galerie Daniel Blau, Jonathan Meese: Napoleon, 2007 (another
example exhibited)
‘Meese has risen to acclaim and notoriety over the last decade through his epic scale paintings, bronze sculptures and highly physical trancelike performances. Meese’s very personal performance and artworks often channel and reference violent dictatorial figures, seeking to make nonsense of their atrocious histories and via this deconstruction, make fresh sense of their actions, expressing the artist’s wish to “bring up everything again through dirt”. Often, the manner in which this is carried out is shocking and cathartic, as imagery of Swastikas, genitalia and monstrous faces converge in vast paintings and towering bronzes, in front of which the artist signs off with a Nazi salute. In the same way, themes as wide ranging as the lives of Richard Wagner, Hitler and the Marquis de Sade jostle up with cinematic personalities such as Scarlett Johansson, Noel Coward, Marlene Dietrich and Dr. No and are amalgamated in the mythological construction of Meese’s own persona within his works. Throughout the work of Jonathan Meese, there exists a hopeful re-ordering through chaos, where the artist proposes a very particular, personal world that dedicates itself to the “revolution of art”. Meese’s enthusiastic role as “Art Dictator” employs the language and intensity of despotism, while proposing something much more pure, optimistic, naive even. Through this, Meese’s unaffected innocence is transformed into an insistent production.’ (Stuart Shave/ Modern Art press release, 2009)
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10
CINDY SHERMAN b. 1954 Untitled #194, 1989 C-print in the artist’s frame. 121.6 x 86 cm. (47 7/8 x 33 7/8 in). Signed and dated ‘Cindy Sherman 1989’ and numbered of six on the reverse. This work is from an edition of six.
Estimate £ 8 0 , 0 0 0 -12 0 , 0 0 0
$13 2 , 0 0 0 -19 8 , 0 0 0
€ 91,4 0 0 -13 7, 0 0 0 ‡
Provenance Metro Pictures, New York; Skarstedt Fine Art, New York exhibited Paris, Jeu de Paume, 16 May - 3 September, 2006; Kunsthaus Bregenz,
2 December, 2006 - 28 January, 2007; Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 9 February - 13 May, 2007; Berlin, Martin Gropius Bau, 15 June - 10 September, 2007, Cindy Sherman (another example exhibited) Literature A. Dando, Cindy Sherman: History Portraits, New York, 1990, p. 30
(illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Cindy Sherman/ Marco Meneguzzo, Milan, 1990, p. 69 (illustrated); Jeu de Paume, ed., Cindy Sherman, Paris, 2006, pp. 141, 257 (illustrated)
Having begun the History Portraits in 1988, Sherman found the atmosphere of Renaissance Rome a catalyst and cultural setting for her body of work, which aimed at depicting classic images. Belonging to one of her most celebrated photographs from the acclaimed series the present lot, Untitled #194, is a seminal image, in which Sherman captivates in a single iconic self-image the principle tenets that highlight the artist’s entire oeuvre. Through the incorporation of costumes, poses, interiors and settings of classical portraiture that were so predominant during the period of High Art, this series looks to mime the canon of art history, culling images of historical figures. “In the History Portraits, created in 1989-90 on the theme of Old Master paintings, Sherman unleashes the full blast of her iconoclastic verve. False noses, false breasts, cheap costume jewelry, everyday fabrics, and thickly plastered makeup are assembled under dazzling, bright light: the joke shop takes its revenge on the museum... the references are precise in some cases, and more fragmented in others... The overall impression is of an unsavory cultural minestrone, floating with bits of Fouquet, Raphael, Rubens, Fragonard, and Ingres... Sherman highlights the creation of a world where formal invention, fantasy and satire reign supreme.” (J.P. Criqui, ‘The Lady Vanishes’ in Cindy Sherman, Paris, 2006, pp. 279, 281)
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11
STEVEN PARRINO 1958-2005 Sin City Sag. Fuckhead Bubble-Gum, 1992 Enamel and gesso on gathered canvas. 240.5 x 240.5 x 50 cm. (94 3/4 x 94 3/4 x 19 3/4 in). Signed and dated ‘ST. Parrino 1992’ on the reverse.
Estimate £ 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 - 4 0 0 , 0 0 0
$ 4 9 6 , 0 0 0 - 6 61, 0 0 0
€ 3 4 3 , 0 0 0 - 4 57, 0 0 0 ‡
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist
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reflects the underside of a dark segment of society, rebellious youths involved in sex, drugs and alternative music. With the financial crash and the outbreak of the Gulf War, the socially and politically turbulent turn of the decade saw the prominence in music of heavy metal and grunge and the rise of the raving culture. Bands like Nirvana and their suicidal front man Kurt Cobain captured the angst of a disenfranchised generation. The title of the present lot, Sin City Sag. Fuckhead Bubble Gum, a raw, aggressive, explicit idiom, is reminiscent of the oeuvre of another New York artist working in the same vein and a close friend of Steven Parrino, the painter Christopher Wool and his groundbreaking series of text paintings comprised of swear word ridden phrases stenciled in black lettering on white painted aluminium. Created concurrently, the artistic output of both Parrino and Wool powerfully, visually defines not only a pivotal moment in American socio-political history but also marks the revival and triumph of contemporary painting. It is a testament to Steven Parrino’s deep and lasting influence that artists like Terence Koh, Banks Violette and the late Dash Snow are the current darlings of the New York art scene. ‘My paintings are not formalist, not narrative. My paintings are realist and connected to real life, the social field, in brief: action... All my work deals with disrupting the status quo and the history of like disruptions- mainly focused on the USA between 1958 and the present time- my lifetime.’ Andy Warhol, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, 1964
(Steven Parrino in conversation with Lionel Bovier, 1994)
‘When I started making paintings the word on painting was ‘PAINTING IS DEAD.’ I saw this as an interesting place for painting... death can be refreshing, so I started engaging in necrophilia... Approaching history in the same way that Dr. Frankenstein approaches body parts... and this death painting thing led to a sex and death painting thing... that became an existence thing... that became a ‘Cease to Exist’ thing... A kind of post-punk existentialism. I am still concerned with ‘art about art’, but I am also aware that ‘art about art’ still reflects the time in which it was made. Content is not denied... Content is not obvious... Content is sustained in the air or the vibe of the work.’ (S. Parrino, The No Texts (1979-2003), New York, 2003, p. 43) Steven Parrino’s unique, single minded avant-garde oeuvre, dating primarily from the 80s and 90s and tragically cut short by his untimely death from a motorcycle accident, has often been referred to as a new form of realism in art. At a time when Jeff Koons was making monumental appropriation sculptures, Parrino had to literally and metaphorically tear painting apart in order to save it. Deeply influenced by the American tradition of abstract painting and figurative Pop Art, his large scale, sculptural painting Sin City Sag. Fuckhead Bubble Gum executed in 1992 in New York City has undeniable roots in the monochromatic canvases of Frank Stella and the bold, bright hues of Andy Warhol. Yet the realism of Parrino’s art makes the painting itself into an object, a real fact. Sin City Sag’s ‘deformed’ canvas is executed by first painting a monochromatic magenta square at the centre of a large piece of raw canvas that has been conventionally stapled to a stretcher. The painted canvas is then pulled forward from the stretcher, aggressively contorted, wrinkled and crumbled only to be reattached this time with the sinuous, sagging raw excess canvas beautifully flowing like drapery. While the viewer can easily get lost in the sexually suggestive creases, folds and hollows and the glamorous, vivid colours of Parrino’s works, the nihilistic nature of his art can not be ignored. The violent manner in which the paintings were executed mirrors the urban reality that constituted Steven Parrino’s late 80s, early 90s New York City life. His scorched oeuvre
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Christopher Wool, Fuckem if they cant take a joke, 1992
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12
jean-michel basquiat 1961-1988 Year of the Boar, 1983 Signed and titled ‘YEAR OF THE BOAR’ Jean-Michel B’ on the reverse of the central panel. Triptych: acrylic on canvas mounted on wood supports. Overall: 244 x 190 cm. (96 x 74 3/4 in).
estimate £ 9 0 0 , 0 0 0 -1, 2 0 0 , 0 0 0
$1,4 9 0 , 0 0 0 -1, 9 8 0 , 0 0 0
€1, 0 3 0 , 0 0 0 -1, 3 70 , 0 0 0 ‡
Provenance Larry Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles; The Stephane Janssen Collection,
Belgium; Private collection, New York exhibition : Los Angeles, Larry Gagosian Gallery, Jean-Michel Basquiat: New Paintings,
8 March – 2 April, 1983; Künzelsau, Museum Würth, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 6 October, 2001 – 2 January, 2002 Literature E. Navarra, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paris, 1996, vol. I, p. 145 (illustrated), vol.
II, no. 4, p. 106 (illustrated), p. 236 (installation view); E. Navarra, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paris, 2000, p. 169 (illustrated)
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Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944 In the present lot, Year of the Boar, a sparse but powerfully expressionistic
highly personal, candid glimpse into the soul of a troubled artist. Like Bacon,
work from one of his most important years, 1983, Jean-Michel Basquiat
Basquiat struggled with his identity and sense of belonging so perhaps the
tackles head on the loaded art historical tradition of the triptych in
Christ-like central figure can be read as a self portrait- a cry for help in which
painting. Basquiat’s chosen format and imagery, a three panel work with
Basquiat the martyr with his bloodshot eyes, open, screaming mouth, and
a vigorously depicted horned, masked figure on the central panel, is
sharpened teeth attempts to release his demons.
immediately reminiscent of Renaissance crucifixion triptychs. Basquiat’s enraged, screaming protagonist is Christ on the cross with the two other
In early 1983 Basquiat was living in Los Angeles with the young, up and
criminals crucified with Jesus in Golgatha simply hinted at by darkness,
coming Pop star Madonna and frantically preparing a body of work for his
monochromatic black canvases on either side. At the base of the triptych,
second solo show with Larry Gagosian. In the evenings, the three of them
instead of the biblical INRI, a latin acronymyn inscribed on the cross with
often frequented the restaurants of the city’s prominent Chinatown. It is on
which Christ was crucified, Basquiat has adorned in a graffiti like manner
the way to one of those meals that Basquiat, inspired by the vibrant, colourful
each canvas with a word from the phrase ‘Chinese New Year’ followed by
celebrations of the Chinese New Year, the year of the boar in 1983, conceived
a copyright symbol. Loosely written text and corporate iconography, two of
the present work. Himself the son of immigrants, a mix of Puerto Rican and
the cornerstones of Basquiat’s oeuvre, reference not only his admiration
Haitian, Basquiat must have felt a connection with a people proclaiming their
of the avant-garde painter Cy Twombly but also his roots in New York City’s
identity by performing a national ritual in a foreign country. The question
underground art scene where he artistically and physically undermined the
of identity, a recurring theme throughout his oeuvre, was always important
establishment.
to Basquiat who famously struggled to cope with his status as an AfricanAmerican in an 80s art world dominated by caucasian artists and rampant
What is most striking in the Year of the Boar is the beautifully rendered,
with institutionalized racism.
animalistic figure of the triptych’s central panel. Painted with the same raw energy that inhabited Francis Bacon paintings, Basquiat’s anthropomorphic
1983 would turn out to be a milestone year for Jean-Michel Basquiat who
creature displays an aggression evident in its primal scream. In fact, Year
was at the height of his artistic maturity with Year of the Boar included in the
of the Boar is reminiscent of Bacon’s first mature work, the biblical tryptich
notorious Larry Gagosian show. The exhibition would propel the then barely
Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, a masterpiece of 20th
twenty-two year old to art world superstardom and the rest, as they say,
century art, in which three writhing creatures expressionistically vent all
is history. It is amazing to realize that at such a young age, the completely
their anger and frustration. Basquiat’s fascination with Primitive art and his
self-taught artist had acquired such a natural technical ability, a superlative
appropriation of the masters that came before him is well documented; from
draughtsmanship and a muscular yet fluid painting style. Energetic,
African ritual masks to Picasso and Dubuffet, his oeuvre not only manages
expressive, graphic, Year of the Boar is a painting in which Basquiat achieves
to succinctly synthesize the history of art but most importantly offer a
a thematic and artistic clarity unrivalled throughout his oeuvre.
Installation view of the present lot, Larry Gagosian Gallery, 1983
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13
HERMANN NITSCH b. 1938 Untitled, 1986 Oil and acrylic on canvas. 200 x 300 cm. (79 x 111 in).
Estimate £ 2 0 , 0 0 0 - 3 0 , 0 0 0
$ 3 3 ,10 0 - 4 9 , 6 0 0
€22,80 0 -34,30 0 ♠†
Provenance Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna exhibited London, The Saatchi Gallery, 26 January - 30 October, 2005; Leeds City
Art Gallery, 25 January - 12 March, 2006; The Triumph of Painting Literature Exhibition catalogue, The Triumph of Painting, London, 2005, p. 101
(illustrated)
Over nearly half a century, the Austrian performance artist Hermann Nitsch has been an exponent of the ideals emanating from the short lived and violent avant garde movement which he headed in the 60s known as the Viennese Actionists. Together with his fellow Actionists, Nitsch shared an interest in rejecting object-based or otherwise commodifiable art practices. Their artistic practice involved staging precisely scored ‘Actions’ in controlled environments or before audiences. Often to the point of arrest for its participants, the performances involved the use of the human body as both surface and site of art-making. Like his performances, Hermann Nitsch’s splatter paintings exist as holy ‘relics’: icons of metaphysical significance, radiating an aura of edification. They convey a terrible beauty, a sublime contemplation of life, violence, transgression and extremity. Nitsch’s abstract splatter paintings, like his performance pieces, established a theme of controlled violence, using bright reds, maroons, and pale greys that communicate organic mutilation. Large-scale, abstract and red, Hermann Nitsch’s splatter paintings are vital in the development of Austrian Contemporary Art, but moreover, they are signatures for the development of European Action Painting within the international contemporary art world. With his vigorous splatter effects, recorded by the bare canvas, Nitsch enters into a dialogue of motions between the artist and the canvas. Through his action of throwing the paint onto the canvas’ surface, the final product records and absorbs the act and outcome of his motions. In effect, Nitsch’s series of splatter paintings, capture the essence of Action Painting as a reciprocal relationship that is played out between subject and object, where both become intertwined, making one dependent on the other.
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14
Jake & Dinos Chapman b. 1966 & b. 1962 The same thing only smaller, or the same size but a long way away, 2005-2006 Painted resin. 45.1 x 42.5 x 21.6 cm. (17 3/4 x 16 3/4 x 8 1/2 in). Signed, inscribed, dated ‘Jake and Dinos Chapman did this ok? XXX 2006’ and numbered of twelve on the underside. This work is from an edition of twelve.
estimate £6 0,0 0 0 - 8 0,0 0 0
$9 9,20 0 -132,0 0 0
€6 8,50 0 -91,40 0 ♠Ω
Provenance White Cube, London
Jake and Dinos Chapman’s grotesque, gruesome tableau, The same thing only smaller, or the same size but a long way away, realistically depicts the macabre scene of rotting skeletons hanging from a tree, the decomposed bodies picked clean by swarming flies, maggots, and worms. As suggested in its descriptive title, the present lot is a reduced version of a previous Chapman work, Sex, the bronze centerpiece of their 2003 Turner Prize display at London’s Tate Britain. Constantly appropriating and reworking their own work as well as the oeuvre of past masters, Sex was itself based on Great Deeds Against the Dead, a 1994 sculpture which took as its inspiration a Francisco de Goya etching from his epic masterpiece the Disasters of War. Throughout their artistic career, the Chapman brothers have compulsively and controversially returned to Goya’s subversive commentary on the effects of war, creating a body of work, sculptures, paintings, drawings and prints, which poignantly critiques the state of our contemporary society. Their fantastically graphic imagery is so morbid that it acquires a certain aloofness, an irreverence towards the history of art and the contemporary art world that is typical of the oeuvre and mentality of the YBAs.
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15
Margherita Manzelli b. 1968 Verifica del funzionamento - spazio vuoto, 1997 Oil on canvas. 190 x 129.8 cm. (74 3/4 x 51 1/8 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘Margherita Manzelli 1997 Verifica del funzionamento- spazio vuoto’ on the reverse.
estimate £ 8 0 , 0 0 0 -12 0 , 0 0 0
$13 2 , 0 0 0 -19 8 , 0 0 0
€ 91,4 0 0 -13 7, 0 0 0 ♠‡
Provenance greengrassi, London; Private collection, New York exhibited Rome, MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Margherita
Manzelli, 3 December, 2003 - 8 February, 2004; Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Margherita Manzelli, 26 May – 12 September, 2004 Literature CHARTA, ed., Margherita Manzelli, Milan, 2004, pp. 180 - 181 (illustrated)
As one of the leading figurative painters of her generation, Margherita Manzelli’s acclaimed oeuvre consists primarily of large scale paintings and delicate works on paper depicting haunting, oddly ravishing images of solitary women isolated within an abstracted, pictoral dream space. The Milan based artist who has been active since the mid 90s claims her works are not intended as self-portraits although they nevertheless bear both a physical and psychic resemblence to her. Manzelli herself admits ‘I would like them to be different to me. And yet I realize that this very desire is symptomatic of the fact that something of myself remains in them.’ (the artist as quoted in H. Kontova, ‘Margherita Manzelli, Giving Sense to the Senseless’, Flash Art 33, no. 210, Jan/Feb 2000, pp. 102-103) Manzelli’s mute, still women, with their emaciated and subtly deformed bodies, are engaged in no activity other than staring, their penetrating eyes locked in a weirdly knowing confrontation with the viewer. The present lot, an early work from 1997, depicts a vulnerable, partly derobed, androgynous figure kneeling on a chair in a stark domestic environment. Her furrowed brow, intense stare and awkward posture put the viewer ill at ease when confronted with this monumental canvas. The figure, with her colourful, richly detailed clothing, is painfully aware that she is on display creating a psychological and erotic tension between, artist, sitter and viewer. ‘These women (the figures in Margherita Manzelli’s work) are, in many ways, ciphers for the artist’s own conscious and unconscious anxieties. By abstracting aspects of her identity into a series of nameless, placeless, indistinct women, Manzelli is able to transfer her emotional and personal concerns onto another, deflecting attention from herself and ultimately eluding all forms of apprehension. In this sense Margherita Manzelli’s intensely mediated exchanges with the world, whether in the form of live actions, paintings or drawings, are designed to conceal as much as they reveal.’ (Exhibition catalogue, The Art Institute of Chicago, Margherita Manzelli, Chicago, 2004, n.p.)
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16
Paul Mccarthy b. 1945 Untitled (from Propo-Series) (Peaches), 1991/2002 Cibachrome print mounted on aluminium. 124.5 x 185.5 cm. (49 x 73 in). This work is from an edition of three.
Estimate £ 4 0 , 0 0 0 - 6 0 , 0 0 0
$ 6 6 ,10 0 - 9 9 , 2 0 0
€ 4 5 ,70 0 - 6 8 , 5 0 0 ‡
Provenance Luhring Augustine, New York; Bortolami Dayan Gallery, New York exhibited San Francisco Art Institute, Work Zones: three decades of contemporary
art from San Francisco Art Institute, 11 May - 29 July, 2006 (another example exhibited) Literature P. McCarthy, ed., Paul McCarthy: Propo, Milan, 1999, n.p. (illustrated)
Between 1972 and 1983, Paul McCarthy did a series of performances which included masks, bottles, pans, uniforms, dolls, stuffed animals and other found objects. After the performances, the objects were either left behind or they were collected and stored in suitcases and trunks to be used in future performances. In 1983, the closed suitcases and trunks containing these performance objects were stacked on a table and exhibited as sculpture. In 1991, Paul McCarthy opened the suitcases and trunks and photographed each item, titling the group of photographs in their entirety “PROPO.” ‘McCarthy’s props are manufactured, cheap and ubiquitous. In their tasteless vulgarity they can be understood as Pop art par excellence. At the same time, however, their flesh tones are suggestive yet androgynous sexuality lend them a certain eros. They are therefore both readymade and found objects. McCarthy has used his props to give birth and to enact both coitus and castration. The props are fetishes, symbolic of desire and of death. Their infantilism is always defiled. Through assemblage some gain genetalia; all are spattered with liquid. Like dried blood, shit and indeed organic waste; McCarthy’s “palette” always tends to varying shades of brown. His painted objects desiccated, sticky, unhygienic. Their dopey appeal is transformed into abjection by their apparent encounter with excrement, the great taboo of the human body. Yet, at the same time, it is only ketchup, mayonnaise, chocolate sauce. McCarthy transforms these processed food stuffs into paint, which in turn mimics bodily fluids. Their containers, also accorded the status of sculpture, are offered as analogies for the vagina, the penis, and the anus.’ (I. Blazwick ‘Masks, Statues: Paul McCarthy as figurative sculptor’, in exhibition catalogue, Paul McCarthy. Head Shop/Shop Head: Works 1966-2006, Gottingen, 2006, p. 28)
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THOMAS RUFF b. 1958 Nude qaf06, 2001 Chromogenic colour print mounted with Diasec face in the artist’s wooden frame. 153 x 110 cm. (60 1/4 x 43 1/4 in). Signed, dated ‘Th Ruff 2001’ and numbered of five on the reverse. This work is from an edition of five plus two artist’s proofs.
Estimate £ 3 0 , 0 0 0 - 4 0 , 0 0 0
$ 4 9 , 6 0 0 - 6 6 ,10 0
€ 3 4 , 3 0 0 - 4 5 ,70 0 ♠‡
Provenance Galerie Mai 36, Zurich; Private collection, New York Literature M. Winzen, Thomas Ruff 1979 to the Present, Cologne, 2001, p. 240, no.
NUD 082 (illustrated); M. Houellebecq, Nudes, Berlin, 2003, p. 57 (illustrated)
Around 1998 Thomas Ruff began to work on nude photography and also began experimenting with computer generated, abstract pictures made of pixels. Through his internet research into the genre of nude photography, he came across the field of pornography. Due to the poor resolution of these pictures on the World Wide Web, their pixel structure resembled the one he had been experimenting with. He decided to apply the same technique to the internet pictures, processing them so that the pixel structure was only just barely visible. He used fuzziness and other blurring techniques, occasionally modifying the colouring and removing intrusive details. The selection of source pictures was based on such considerations as composition, lighting, colouring, or representation. ‘Thomas Ruff’s nudes forcefully address the theme of our prerational curiosity about pornographic depictions, a curiosity that is only secondarily constrained by morals and conventions. Although in many ways the nudes are a consistent continuation of Ruff’s previous series, as treatments of net pornography they still address an independent, complex, and clearly contemporary field of perception between body and eye, pre-reflexive curiosity and fetishistic fixation, physical excitement and mechanical prosthesis, secret desire and inconsequential anonymity, individual exhibitionism and the camera gaze that enlists and sexualizes the body.’ (M. Winzen, ‘A Credible Invention of Reality’ in Thomas Ruff: 1979 to the Present, Cologne, 2001, p. 151)
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CINDY SHERMAN b. 1954
‘Without doubt the most important series in Cindy Sherman’s
Untitled Film Still #8, 1978
early work, the seventy Untitled Film Stills create a metamorphic
Gelatin silver print. 85.1 x 104.1 cm. (33 1/2 x 41 in). Signed, dated ‘Cindy Sherman 1978’ and numbered of three on the reverse. This work is from an edition of three.
world in which the subject invents a succession of more elaborately constructed identities, complete with props and settings, but which
Estimate £10 0 , 0 0 0 -15 0 , 0 0 0
$16 5 , 0 0 0 - 24 8 , 0 0 0
€114 , 0 0 0 -171, 0 0 0 ‡
provenance Metro Pictures, New York; Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York; Private
are still not always necessarily entirely explicit. The subjects’s jubilant ‘chameleonism’ appropriates a range of different worlds, ranging from
collection, New York
the stereotypes of everyday life (the young housewife, the student)
exhibited Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, November 2, 1997 -
to literature, painting, and of course cinema (Italian Neorealism, or
February 1, 1998; Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, February 28 - May 31, 1998; Prague, Galerie Rudolfinum, June 25 - August 23, 1998; London, Barbican Art Gallery,
American film noir, for example). These film stills recall the photographs
September 10 - December 13, 1998; CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux,
taken on movie sets in the 50s and 60s, and used to advertise
February 6 - April 25, 1999; Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, June 4 - August
forthcoming motion pictures. Their Untitled status (in common with
29, 1999; and Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, October 1, 1999 - January 2, 2000, Cindy
most of Sherman’s work) leaves them open to multiple interpretations.
Sherman: Retrospective (another example illustrated, p. 59, pl. 8); Paris, Jeu de Paume, 16 May - 3 September, 2006; Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2 December, 2006 - 28 January, 2007;
The subject is generally seen in the foreground or middle ground
Humlebaek, Louisiana Musuem of Modern Art, 9 February - 13 May, 2007; Berlin, Martin
of the picture, as one element of a theatricalized scene in which the
Gropius Bau, 15 June - 10 September, 2007, Cindy Sherman (another example exhibited)
setting, clothes, or pose combine to create a distinctive atmosphere.
Literature P. Schjeldahl and I. M. Danoff, Cindy Sherman, Munich, 1984, pl. 7
(illustrated); A. C. Danto, Untitled Film Stills: Cindy Sherman, Munich, 1990/1998, pl. 7
Here, and in Sherman’s subsequent work, the artist alternates
(illustrated); Z. Felix and M. Schwander, eds., Cindy Sherman: Photographic Work 1975-
between detailed close ups that reveal the components of the subject’s
1995, Munich, 1995, pl. 3 (illustrated); D. Frankel, ed., The Complete Untitled Film Stills:
‘disguise’ (makeup and protheses), and wide angle images in which
Cindy Sherman, New York, 2003, p. 126 (illustrated); Jeu de Paume, ed., Cindy Sherman,
the figure tends to disappear beneath an array of artifacts, or to melt
Paris, 2006, pp. 35, 241 (illustrated)
into the fictions created by those artifacts, according to some internal law of uncontrollable mutability, some kind of equilibrium being kept nonetheless by the sheer speed of process. The series’ success lies in the tension established by the artist between our immediate recognition of a reference or stereotype (with the inevitable danger that this becomes a somewhat superficial game), and the creation of a space onto which the viewer can project his or her fictional imaginings and desires. Each scene is constructed for the viewer alone; the images are the precursors of a fictional narrative. In this sense, they function exactly like ‘real’ film stills, whetting the appetite and inviting the viewer to implicate him- or herself in the image, both visually and sexually.’ (exhibition catalogue, Jeu de Paume, Cindy Sherman, Paris, 2006, p. 240)
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MICHAEL RAEDECKER b. 1963 Beam, 2000 Acrylic and thread on canvas. 173 x 203 cm. (68 x 80 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘Michael Raedecker Beam 2000’ on the overlap.
Estimate £ 4 0 , 0 0 0 - 6 0 , 0 0 0
$ 6 6 ,10 0 - 9 9 , 2 0 0
€ 4 5 ,70 0 - 6 8 , 5 0 0 ♠ †
Provenance The Approach, London exhibited London, The Approach, ins and outs, 6 May – 18 June, 2000; London, The
Saatchi Gallery, 26 January - 30 October, 2005; Leeds City Art Gallery, 25 January - 12 March, 2006; The Triumph of Painting; Leeds, Harewood House Trust, Locating Home, 3 April – 5 July, 2009 Literature Exhibition catalogue, The Triumph of Painting, London, 2005, p.
154 (illustrated); 100: The Work that Changed British Art, London, 2003, pp. 92-93 (illustrated)
‘It has rightly been said that Michael Raedecker’s paintings are ‘unsettling’: we do not readily comprehend what is actually happening in them nor do they offer us an ideal viewing distance from which we might feel that the image coalesces into an accessible whole. The paint, the various kinds of threads, and the other materials sometimes pasted and painted over, work at cross purposes. At the distance where, for example, the paint still yields an immaterial ‘image’ and forms readable figures, the threads already break away from the whole and turn into ‘wool’ and ‘hairs’ that undermine the image. On closer examination, loose hairs and threads stuck into the paint, along with protruding lumps of paint, evoke miniature landscapes, which then again approximate the complete image first seen in the painting, and so on. The embroidery and plaiting that Raedecker uses to imitate painterly effects never blend into the image evenly. The painting is never consistently ‘image’ and the image never dissolves completely into paint. The image actually stays ‘messy’ at all times; Raedecker’s technique always generates the appearance of sloppy patchwork. The painter in this case is not a conjuror and not a magician, but a craftsman and a bricoleur.’ (B. Verschaffel, ‘Dirty Pictures’, in Parkett, Zurich, No. 65, 2002, p. 98)
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FLORIAN MAIER-AICHEN b. 1973 Untitled (Saddle Peak), 2004 Chromogenic print in the artist’s wooden frame. 228.6 x 182.9 cm. (90 x 72 in). Signed, dated ‘Florian Maier-Aichen, 2004’ and numbered of two artist’s proofs on the reverse. This work is from an edition of six plus two artist’s proofs.
Estimate £ 6 0 , 0 0 0 - 8 0 , 0 0 0
$ 9 9 , 2 0 0 -13 2 , 0 0 0
€ 6 8 , 5 0 0 - 91,4 0 0 ♠ †
Provenance Blum & Poe, Los Angeles exhibited Los Angeles, Blum & Poe, Florian Maier-Aichen, 3 July - 14 August,
2004 (another example exhibited); London, Royal Academy of Arts, USA Today: New American Art from the Saatchi Gallery, 6 October - 4 November, 2006 (another example exhibited) Literature D. Faconti, ed., Blind Spot, Florian Maier-Aichen, Summer 2005
(illustrated); P. Plagens, ‘Madison Avenue Ennui,’ in Art in America, New York, June/ July 2006, p. 78 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, USA Today: New American Art from the Saatchi Gallery, London, 2006, p. 231 (illustrated);
Untitled (Saddle Peak) is one of Florian Maier-Aichen’s most impressive, accomplished and beautiful images. Although originally based upon a photograph of the Saddle Peak Hills in the Southern Califonia desert, Maier-Aichen’s representation, with its mesmerizing tonal reversal effect, reveals a poetic rather than scientific truth. In fact, from afar, it rather resembles a Mark Rothko White Center painting than a photograph. A wizard capable of turning the real into the sublime, Florian Maier-Aichen digitally manipulates his raw images to create an oeuvre that is as painterly as it is photographic. ‘Florian Maier Aichen’s photograhic work portrays natural, industrial, and cultural landscapes with stylized eccentricity. By employing the tropes of documentary photography in unconventional ways, MaierAichen creates sublime images rich with reference and allusion. His photographs of the California coast, the Alps, and other locales are openly beautiful and seductive in their saturated hues and expansive views. However, these and other works depicting melting cathedrals, failed industry and tragic ghost ships are also nuanced with subtle disquiet and criticality.’ (R. Morse, ‘Ecstatic Truth: The Photography of Florian Maier-Aichen’, in exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA Focus: Florian Maier-Aichen, Los Angeles, 2007, p. 13)
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UGO RONDINONE b. 1963 all moments STOP here and together we become every memory that has ever been, 2002 Perspex, painted wood. 160 x 150 x 4 cm. (63 x 59 x 1 1/2 in). Signed ‘Ugo Rondinone’ on a label adhered to the reverse. This work is unique from a series of fourteen differently coloured works and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Estimate £ 2 5 , 0 0 0 - 3 5 , 0 0 0
$ 41, 3 0 0 - 57, 9 0 0
€28,60 0 - 40,0 0 0 ‡
Provenance Galerie Almine Rech, Paris exhibited Vienna, Galerie Krobath Wimmer, the dancer and the dance, 27 June - 31
August, 2002 Literature A. Tarsia, ed., Ugo Rondinone. zero built a nest in my navel, Zurich, 2005, pp.
169, 170 (illustrated)
“Described as a visionary trapped by reality, Ugo Rondinone takes us on a journey through the doors of perception. Working across different media and styles, he references literature, music and theatre as well as the visual arts, creating sensory and theatrical installations in which transcendent inner worlds and earthbound life collide.” (Whitechapel Gallery press release: ‘Ugo Rondinone - zerobuilt a nest in my navel’, 2006) The present lot, a poetically titled red perspex window with a yellow wooden support, perfectly exemplifies Ugo Rondinone’s ability to explore notions of emotional and psychic profundity found in the most banal elements of everyday life. The ultimate contemporary Surrealist, Rondinone has created, as is his custom throughout his highly varied and subversive oeuvre, a playful, ironic inward looking window. When viewing the work, instead of being able to gaze out at the world, the viewer is confronted with an image of himself reflected in the perspex. Generally, this reversal would be read as the removal of the window’s function to provide a view, however, in the present lot the contrary is true. The perspex rebounds the viewer’s gaze inward and forces one to consider the work in relation to themselves and the context of the gallery. Ugo Rondinone’s ‘window’ sits quietly, absorbing its surroundings through its high-gloss window panes. The work’s elegant and classical posture is as striking as it is haunting.
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JOHN MCCRACKEN b. 1934 Actuate, 1994 Polyester resin and fibreglass on wood. 15.8 x 137.7 x 23.2 cm. (6 1/4 x 54 1/4 x 9 1/4 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘ACTUATE 1994 John McCracken’ on the reverse.
Estimate £ 6 0 , 0 0 0 - 8 0 , 0 0 0
$ 9 9 , 2 0 0 -13 2 , 0 0 0
€ 6 8 , 5 0 0 - 91,4 0 0 ‡
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist.
Over nearly forty-five years, the Amercian Minimalist sculptor
‘What I try to do is to make forms that are singular and indivisible,
John McCracken has dedicated himself to creating simple, bold
yet which at the same time may be seen as composed of varying
monochromatic works which have redifined the history of 20th
elements. They consist of particular forms, colors, surfaces, but
century sculpture. The present lot, Actuate, a bright red wall
then added to these are surrounding conditions – light, color,
relief from 1994, is a prime example from the artist’s Fluorescent
reflected images – which also become the ‘materials’ of the
work series. With its vibrant, colourful sensory aesthetic, the
works. What they are actually made of is a wide variable spectrum
sculpture is still and yet at the same time generates movement.
of materials and phenomena. My work is obviously related to
Its three dimensionality activates its surroundings and triggers
monuments of the past such as Stonehenge, and Egyptian
experiences within the viewer. Despite its seemingly industrial
architecture and sculpture, but it has nothing directly to do with
finish, Actuate is meticulously crafted and taken to a high polish by
them. It’s more a matter of finding and inventing the forms that
hand. The resulting form is strikingly brilliant, offering the viewer’s
seem expressive of a high level of consciousness and concern. My
reflection as a reminder of the heightened physicality of pure
sculptures are, for one thing, images of man. It is relevant that all of
abstract form. Illusorily transparent, Actuate seems to emanate
man’s constructions – tools, buildings, clothes, etc. – are as much
light, recalling the magnificent Southern Californian sun of John
images of himself as the physical body is, or as portraits are.’ (John
McCracken’s childhood.
McCracken as quoted in L. Bovier and M. Perret, eds., Timewave Zero/A Psychedelic Reader, Graz, 2001, p. 31).
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OLAFUR ELIASSON b. 1967 Two Hot Air Columns, 2005 Stainless steel, 2 heat lamps, wire, plug. 174 x 40.5 x 45.5 cm. (68 1/2 x 16 x 18 in). & 192 x 40.5 x 44.5 cm. (75 1/2 x 16 x 17 1/2 in). This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Estimate £ 8 0 , 0 0 0 -12 0 , 0 0 0 Provenance
$13 2 , 0 0 0 -19 8 , 0 0 0
€ 91,4 0 0 -13 7, 0 0 0 ♠ Ω
Galerie neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Private collection, New York
exhibited New York, Maxwell Davidson Gallery/ Davidson Contemporary, Sculpture: Post
War to Present, 11 May - 26 June, 2009 Literature A. Engberg-Pedersen, ed., Studio Olafur Eliasson: An Encyclopedia, Cologne,
2008, p. 452 (illustrated)
Olafur Eliasson, although somewhat newly anointed, has become synonymous for his impeccable, seemingly magical, interventions of elephantine arenas through an articulation of elemental forces, technology and atmosphere. Eliasson uses the ephemeral and intangible in a manner that encompasses his viewers within the work, forcing them to reconsider their previously conceived notions of how they interact with their surroundings. The present work is a mesmerizing sculptural installation comprised of two stainless steel columns with a propeller installed atop each tower. A heat lamp at the base of each column creates energy causing the propellers to rotate. Hailing from the same body of work as his critically acclaimed 2003 Tate Modern installation The Weather Project, the present lot is a poignant investigation into one of the most prominent issues permeating Olafur Eliasson’s oeuvre, climate change. ‘Environmental concerns have become a common point of reference, and it seemed relevant to do a project that relates to this issue. I find it very interesting that climate change has caused a new kind of collectivity and ecological awareness to arise. I say “new” because it differs from the more dogmatic ideas of collectivity that we experienced in the 1970s. The challenge today is to understand some of our actions as having dire consequences for the environment, to see ourselves in complex relations with both our surroundings and other people. The research on movement and environmentally with regard to how we navigate the world- a world that’s shared and changeable, if we only recognize the need for this. The new ecological movements can be used to put pressure on objects such as cars, to create a demand for sustainable ways of moving.’ (Olafur Eliasson in conversation with Philip Ursprung in ‘O. Eliasson, Studio Olafur Eliasson’, Cologne, 2008, pp. 451-452)
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JOHN ARMLEDER b. 1948 Untitled, 1994 Mixed media on canvas. 190.5 x 100.5 cm. (75 x 39 1/2 in). Signed and dated ‘John Armleder 1994’ on the overlap.
Estimate £ 2 0 , 0 0 0 - 3 0 , 0 0 0
$ 3 3 ,10 0 - 4 9 , 6 0 0
€22,80 0 -34,30 0
Provenance Galerie Art & Public, Geneva; Galerie Piltzer, Paris; Private
collection, Paris
John Armleder has been a prominent figure in the art world for the last forty years working across a wide range of media from painting, sculpture and installation. The present lot, a colourful untitled canvas from 1994, is a magnificent example of the Swiss artist’s acclaimed series of Pour Paintings. Started in the middle of the 80s, this body of work sees Armleder lose himself like the Abstract Expressionists in the act of painting. With its subtle tonality of falling drips of paint, this powerful work exudes a unique painterly quality – the end result offering a mesmerising and harmonious visual account of a physical and visceral encounter between the artist, his paints and his canvas. ‘As a consequence of the diverse experiments with quotation and repetition, with abstraction and its emptying, in the Pour Paintings Armleder on the one hand departs from geometrical formalism in order, on the other hand, to take his leave far more fundamentally from the production of the picture: paint, industrial enamel, chemicals and similar substances are poured from the upper picture edge over the canvas. Between Morris Louis’ sublte spillings of paint and Andy Warhol’s Piss or Oxidation Paintings, these pictures formulate a painterly hybrid between luxuriant surface and paint running greasily across the canvas, between minimal composition and process-oriented painting technique. Not only do the previously and carefully separated paints, just as with Louis, become mixed along pouring-paths that are only roughly determined, but the heterogeneous spectrum of the paint media provokes, in addition, unpredictable chemical reactions.’ (M. Engler, ‘Everything is not enough- between chaos and five o’clock tea’, in John M Armleder: not enough, Hanover, 2006, pp. 9-10)
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MARTIN KIPPENBERGER 1953-1997 Untitled, 1990 Acrylic and latex on canvas. 240 x 200.3 cm. (94 1/2 x 78 7/8 in). Signed and dated ‘Kippenberger 90’ on the reverse.
Estimate £12 0 , 0 0 0 -18 0 , 0 0 0
$19 8 , 0 0 0 - 2 9 8 , 0 0 0
€13 7, 0 0 0 - 2 0 6 , 0 0 0 ‡
Provenance Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne; Skarstedt Fine Art, New York
Martin Kippenberger is widely regarded as one of the most talented German artists of his generation. Before his untimely death at the age of 44 from liver cancer, Kippenbeger produced an extremely prolific oeuvre in a dizzying range of styles and media. An avid collector and socialite, Kippenberger had a propensity to commission and collaborate with not only his German peers, the other enfants terribles of the 80s Berlin art scene, Albert Oehlen, Werner Büttner, Georg Herold, Dieter Göls, and Günther Förg, but also with his American contemporaries Jeff Koons, Mike Kelley, and Christopher Wool. In 1990 while sejourning in New York City, Kippenberger started a body of work collectively known as the Latex or Rubber paintings. The present lot, a monumental canvas comprised of acrylic and latex, is a prime example from this series where cast rubber objects jutt from the painting’s surface.
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DAN COLEN b. 1979 Untitled (Bird Shit), 2007 Oil on canvas. 122 x 92 cm. (48 x 36 1/4 in). Signed and dated ‘Daniel Colen 2007’ on the overlap.
Estimate £ 2 5 , 0 0 0 - 3 5 , 0 0 0
$ 41, 3 0 0 - 57, 9 0 0
€28,60 0 - 40,0 0 0
Provenance Peres Projects, Berlin; Victoria Miro, London exhibited London, Victoria Miro, Absent Without Leave, 17 February - 17 March, 2007
For a 2007 group show at London’s Victoria Miro gallery, Dan Colen, the enfant terrible of the New York art scene, produced a series of 62 of his critically acclaimed bird shit paintings. Executed in thick oil impasto in shades of putrid green, the present lot is as much performative art as it is painting. As is so well captured in the present lot, Dan Colen’s highly varied oeuvre, is inspired and influenced by what the artist refers to as ‘everything and nothing,’ isolating insignificantly blatant and mundane moments of the declarative. ‘I have spent today installing my work in the gallery. I’ve made this large series of 62 canvases that I kind of threw paint at in different ways so they end up looking like they are made of bird shit. They vary in size, touch and colour. Some of them look like Pollocks, some look very realistic, others are painterly, some are dumb, some are elegant, some are beautiful. The last solo show that I did I put up sculptures of big boulders covered in spray paint, bubble gum and what looked like pigeon shit. Doing it straight on to a canvas this time around made it explode for me. I think it works perfectly with the theme of this show. The curator was really interested in the residue of performance as opposed to actual performance, as witnessed in the work of the artist Vito Acconci in the early 70s. What excites me is the idea of hypothetical pigeons being the performers, rather than me, so all the shit is the residue of their activity - I don’t know if the curator saw it as that. The antics that the artist Dash Snow and I do is shit and giggles, but while everything about my life is worked into my art, this work isn’t about mine and Dash’s relationship.’ (Dan Colen as quoted in ‘My paintings look like shit’, The Guardian, Friday 16 February, 2007)
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Christopher Wool b. 1955 Double Blue Nose (P422), 2003 Silkscreen ink on linen. 244 x 183 cm. (96 1/8 x 72 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘Wool 2003 (P422)’ twice on the reverse.
estimate £10 0 , 0 0 0 -15 0 , 0 0 0
$16 5 , 0 0 0 - 24 8 , 0 0 0
€114 , 0 0 0 -171, 0 0 0 ‡
Provenance Luhring Augustine, New York exhibited London, Camden Arts Centre, Christopher Wool, 31 January - 11 April, 2004;
Karlsruhe, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Painting: Herbert Brandl, Helmut Dorner, Adrian Schiess, Christopher Wool, 29 May - 08 August 2004 Literature Exhibition catalogue, Camden Arts Centre, Christopher Wool, London,
2004, n.p. (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Painting: Herbert Brandl, Helmut Dorner, Adrian Schiess, Christopher Wool, Karlsruhe, 2004 (illustrated)
Christopher Wool’s Double Blue Nose is rather unique within the American artist’s extensive and highly acclaimed oeuvre. Whereas the majority of his recent works are predominantly untitled and executed in black and white, the present lot, a large scale silkscreen on canvas, is titled and incorporates colour. In creating Double Blue Nose, Wool took photographs of his previous paintings and collaged them on the computer before making this new image into a silkscreen in which the grain of the reproduction process is patently visible. The silkscreen works, besides being a convincing permutation of his earlier techniques, exhibit a new shred of fruitful indifference. The swooping lines and intermittent drips might at first recall the imagery of Jackson Pollock or Brice Marden, but more fundamentally they refer to the long history of the painterly gesture in general- the constant urge toward mark-making and a conflicting compulsion toward erasure. ‘The power of Wool’s work is entrenched in its labor-intensive emphasis both on the act of painting and on painting’s constituent elements. In Wool’s pieces we are perpetually returned to an analysis of form, line, color, frame and frontal composition. The result of this approach is a sharp emphasis on the surface of the work as a site of formation and interpretation, and a commensurate focus on the practice of imagemaking. Wool’s ambition is to incorporate into the work a sustained consciousness of art-making’s activity. Further, the compressed compositions carried on skin-thin surfaces convey in their tactility an awareness that these paintings cannot in any actual sense embody transcendence or grandeur. This is an inescapable aspect of present circumstance. In fact, Wool’s work deliberately prevents a swift and unencumbered apprehension ‘for the purpose of awakening in the spectator the uneasiness with which the perception of a painting should be accompanied.’ (M. Grynsztejn, ‘Unfinished Business’, in A. Goldstein, Christopher Wool, Los Angeles, 1999, p. 265)
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Andy WArhol 1928-1987 Skull, 1976 Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen inks on canvas 38.1 x 48.3 cm. (15 x 19 in). Signed and dated ‘Andy Warhol 1976’ on the overlap.
Estimate £ 4 5 0 , 0 0 0 - 6 5 0 , 0 0 0
$74 4 , 0 0 0 -1, 070 , 0 0 0
€ 514 , 0 0 0 -74 2 , 0 0 0 ‡
Provenance Fred Hughes, New York; Heiner Bastian Fine Art, Berlin; Stellan Holm,
New York; Private Collection, New York Literature Exhibition Catalogue, Gagosian Gallery, Cast a Cold Eye: The Late Work of Andy
Warhol, New York, 2006, p. 85 (illustrated)
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Jacques de Gheyn the Elder,
Francisco de Zurbaran, St. Francis, c. 1660
Andy Warhol, Self portrait with skull, 1977
Vanitas Still Life, 1603
‘I never understood why when you died, you didn’t just vanish, and everything
isolated against a two tier background and casting a shadow, the shadow of
could just keep going the way it was only you just wouldn’t be there. I always
death. The vivacious hues of acrylic paint, navy blue and hot pink in the present
thought I’d like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well,
lot, satirically counterbalance the morbid subject matter. The dichotomy
actually, I’d like it to say ‘figment’.’ (Andy Warhol as cited in Andy Warhol:
between the subject and the execution, the image of a skull and the glamorous
Giant Size, London, 2006, p. 524)
colours in which it is painted, is representative of Warhol’s schizophrenic personality, of his well documented desire for fame and the celebrity, glitzy life
Arguably the most well known and pertinent artist of the 20th century, Andy
in contrast to, as quoted above, his wish for a blank tombstone.
Warhol the man, the art and the legacy requires no introduction. The single
In 1975 Andy Warhol said about death, ‘I don’t believe in it, because you’re
greatest artistic innovator of the Post War era, his lasting influence on
not around to know that it’s happened. I can’t say anything about it because
our contemporary culture is evident for all to see. Nearly three decades of
I’m not prepared for it.’ (Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A
work came to a premature end in 1987 when he died from post operation
to B and Back Again), Orlando 1975, p. 123) Famously cryptic, Warhol may not
complications, robbing the artistic world of its talisman, of its undisputed
have known how to use words to describe death but a year later he certainly
figure head. Having meticulously planned his own funeral long before his
knew how to poignantly and forcefully depict it. His Skull series, a definitive
passing, the fragility of life and the impendence and omnipotence of death,
portrait of death, immortalizes mortality. As one of his most autobiographical
most particularly his own death, had always been at the forefront of his
bodies of work, it also immortalizes Andy Warhol into the art historical canon.
mind. Artistically, with the posthumous portraits of Marilyn Monroe, the
Possessing a sixth sense, Warhol was yet again apocalyptic when he said
representations of Jackie Kennedy the widow, and his Death and Disaster
‘death can really make you look like a star’ (the artist as cited in exhibition
series, it can be said that death was Andy Warhol’s single most important
catalogue, Bilbao, Guggenheim, Andy Warhol: A Factory, 2000, n.p.)
theme throughout his artistic canon. The present lot, a small but tightly composed, vivid, thickly painted canvas from his acclaimed Skull series, poignantly captures the essence of a troubled soul attempting to come to terms with his inner demons. Executed in 1976, over a decade before his death, Skull presents the viewer with a middle aged Andy Warhol contemplating the transience of life. In the present lot and the series as a whole Warhol tackles head on the motif of the skull within the long, meaningful Vanitas tradition in Western art. The first known representation of the skull is thought to have come from the Dutch painter Jacques de Gheyn the Elder with his 1603 work Vanitas Still Life, a painting which has been retained in the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum since 1974, just two years prior to Warhol’s execution of the present lot. For more than 4 centuries, nearly every master has weighed in on the issue from Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán, to the founder of modern art, Paul Cezanne, and finally to Warhol’s closest rival as the most significant and influential artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso. However, unlike the somber, contemplative representations of his esteemed predecessors, Warhol’s contribution, in typical, distinctive Warholian fashion, is executed in bright, day-glo colours. His memento mori is depicted close up in three quarter pose,
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Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Skull, 1895-1900
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The Artist
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ON KAWARA b. 1933 APR. 8, 1978, 1978 Liquitex on canvas with newspaper clipping in artist’s cardboard box. 33 x 44 cm. (13 x 17 1/4 in). Signed ‘On Kawara’ on the reverse. This work belongs to the Today series and is sold with the original handmade cardboard box containing a New York Times newspaper clipping from 8 April, 1978.
Estimate £19 0 , 0 0 0 - 2 2 0 , 0 0 0
$ 314 , 0 0 0 - 3 6 4 , 0 0 0
€ 217, 0 0 0 - 2 51, 0 0 0 ‡
Provenance Private collection, Switzerland
In January 1966, the Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara began his iconic, critically acclaimed body of work collectively known as the Today series. All works in the series, like the present lot, an early work from 1978, presents nothing more than an alphanumeric date executed in a stencilled like manner on a monochromatic canvas. This canvas, painted in accordance to the American calendrical conventions and language, during the course of the day on April the 8th of 1978, is accompanied by a newspaper clipping from that day’s New York Times, the local newspaper from the city in which On Kawara found himself on April the 8th of 1978. Working with meticulous rigour, On Kawara invents rules for himself, self-imposed limits. There are four or five coats of the same brand of paint on each canvas with the paint going around the edge of the stretcher. The lettering is hand-painted with calculated precision and anonymity, it is always in crisp, white lettering and occupies pretty much the same proportion of each canvas. On Kawara’s artistic practice, like that of his fellow Conceptualists Bruce Nauman and Joseph Kosuth, was a radical departure to the predominant 60s visual aesthetic of Pop Art. Based as much on the thought that lays behind the work as in the work itself, On Kawara’s on going series which now counts over 2,000 works is one of the most important documents in the history of the Conceptual movement. Speaking about the Today series, the acclaimed New York art critic Jerry Saltz has said ‘the works themselves have the presence of tombstones, signs or mementos. Drop-dead simple, repetitive, almost boring, they also put you in touch with ideas about chance, minimalism, the monochrome, seriality, conceptualism and a vaguely Eastern attitude about self-negation.’ (J. Saltz, ‘Reeling in the Years’, New York Magazine, 9 February, 2009, New York, pp. 52-53)
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Artist’s cardboard box with newspaper clipping
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LUCIO FONTANA 1899-1968 Concetto spaziale, 1958-1960 Painted terracotta. 38 x 28.5 x 28.5 cm. (15 x 11 1/4 x 11 1/4 in). Incised ‘l. Fontana’ on the reverse. This work is recorded in the Archivio Fontana, Milan under no. 376/20.
Estimate £ 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 - 3 5 0 , 0 0 0
$ 413 , 0 0 0 - 57 9, 0 0 0
€286,0 0 0 -340,0 0 0
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by the previous owner exhibited Rome, Galleria del Triangolo, Ceramiche di Lucio Fontana, 1961; Milan, Galleria de
Nieubourg, Presenza di Lucio Fontana, 1968 Literature Exhibition catalogue, Galleria del Triangolo, Ceramiche di Lucio Fontana, Rome, 1961,
p. 9 (illustrated)
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The act of cutting, of penetrating in this instance the surface of a smooth, polished egg shaped object, is an act which seeks to visually explore the relationship between space, time and motion, which seeks to visually discover a perfect unity between existence, nature and matter. Lucio Fontana may be best known for his two dimensional works, the artist, however, placed his sculptural oeuvre on the same footing as his acclaimed cut paintings. Striking in both colour and form, the present lot, a free standing sculpture, is a significant work of Fontana’s Concetto spaziale series, in which the artist aimed at changing the configuration and spatial characteristics of modernist painting. Executed between 1958 and 1960 when Fontana was at the height of his powers exploring the ideals of his groundbreaking artistic manifesto, Concetto spaziale is a striking, visceral and tactile object which conveys a powerful sense of immediacy. ‘With the slash I invented a formula that I don’t think I can perfect. I managed with this formula to give the spectator an impression of spatial calm, of cosmic rigour, of serenity in infinity.’ (L. Fontana as quoted in E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, Constantin Brancusi, Sculpture for the blind, 1916
vol. I, Milan 2006, p. 105)
“We do not intend to abolish art or stop life: we want paintings to come out of their frames, and sculptures from under their glass case. An aerial, artistic portrayal of a minute will last for thousands of years in eternity. To this end, using modern techniques, we will make artificial forms, marvellous rainbows, luminous words appear in the sky. We will transmit new types of art on the radio and television. At first, locked in their towers, artists represented themselves and their amazement, and they looked out across the landscape from their windows. After they came down from their castles to the city, breaking down walls and mixing with other men, they saw trees and objects at close quarters. Today, we spatial artists have escaped from our cities, we have broken the casing, our physical bark, and we have looked at ourselves from above, photographing the Earth from missiles in flight.” (L. Fontana taken from R. Miracco, ed., Lucio Fontana: At the Roots of Spatialism, Rome, 2006, p. 31) Made at a time when artistic innovations were considered as political actions, Fontana’s ‘creative and destructive style is often associated with the cultural politics of his time, enacting a strike for freedom from tradition, a blow against the authority of the past. This concept is clearly mirrored in the present lot, which not only becomes a surface upon which Fontana chooses to express his political views, but equally a surface upon which he visually distances himself from past painterly traditions, in search of a new aesthetic, encompassing the notion of a spatial context as its main objective. Fontana’s cuts go beyond the political actions or previous imposed artistic and cultural tradition. His deliberate and elegantly executed penetrations create an artistic language of their own – they are slits that respond to the imagination and pictorially provide a framework for depth. They are signs, benchmarks that point to new dimensions, exploring a new found space that goes beyond the perforations – a space that through its creation infiltrates the surface and is vital to the work’s symbolic power.
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Lucio Fontana in his studio, Corso Monforte, Milan, circa 1962
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GüNTHER FöRG b. 1952 Untitled, 2000 Acrylic on canvas. 200 x 220 cm. (78 3/4 x 86 7/8 in). Signed ‘FÖRG’ upper right; Signed and dated ‘FÖRG 2000’ on the reverse.
Estimate £ 2 5 , 0 0 0 - 3 5 , 0 0 0
$ 41, 3 0 0 - 57, 9 0 0
€ 2 8 , 6 0 0 - 4 0 , 0 0 0 ♠‡
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist.
For German abstract painter Günther Förg, clear geometric forms and monochromatic fields of colour take on the central roles which pervade his painted works. While it seems natural to consider Förg a minimalist painter, the examination of the range of his work, however, demonstrates Förg’s dual purposes. His mimicry of minimalism is indeed an homage, but it also strives to highlight the failure of modernist ideals. Förg’s fascination is shared with many German artists of his Post-War generation. The aftermath of World War II left younger generations struggling with ambivalence toward their own cultural legacy. This dilemma, though not always directly expressed in the content, plays a central role in his work. Förg’s work attempts to reassess the positive impulse that drove modern art, art based on paring down colour, shape and line to a crucial essence, by using its devices. ‘Förg wishes to see his abstract work freed from any moral or religious considerations, which have often served as the foundation for abstract art. His work intends to give pleasure via their airiness, via an optical presence that does not shy away from beauty. His paintings have a clear metaphysical orientation towards light and the vertical... The beauty in Förg’s work is that which we carry within us, that which first allows things in the world to appear at all beautiful to us. Deeply felt beauty inevitably tears open a gap between reality and metaphysical totality.’ (R. Grass, ‘To the builders’, in exhibition catalogue, Gunther Forg, Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, 2003, n.p.)
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SERGEJ JENSEN b. 1973 Untitled (Yin Yang), 2006 Hand knitted wool on linen. 290 x 230 cm. (114 x 91 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘Sergej Jensen Untitled (Yin Yang) 2006’ on the overlap.
Estimate £ 3 0 , 0 0 0 - 5 0 , 0 0 0
$ 4 9 , 6 0 0 - 8 2 ,70 0
€ 3 4 , 3 0 0 - 57,10 0 ♠
Provenance White Cube, London exhibited London, White Cube, Sergej Jensen: La chambre de la peinture, 14
December, 2006 - 27 January, 2007 Literature Exhibition catalogue, White Cube, Sergej Jensen: La chambre de la
peinture, London, 2006, n.p. (illustrated)
Sergej Jensen’s work draws on a wide range of materials and formal references. Primarily known for his textile works, his lyrical compositions incorporate a variety of fabrics, from burlap and linen to silk and wool. For the last few years Jensen has been showing with more regularity textile works and paintings made by sewing, staining, bleaching, stretching and sometimes dabbing little marks on attractive found fabrics. The coarseness of the materials, the cracks and holes, the informal, stitched-together look of the colour fields, and the properties of the muted harmonious tones create a radical frailty and tattered grace that become highly evocative and speak directly on issues of aesthetic withdrawal and the state of material. Working within the idiom of minimalist painting, Jensen takes its material support – the canvas – and sews, bleaches, stretches or stains the cloth to create works that waver between abstraction and representation. The principle of the readymade and recycling also suffuse his practice; off-cuts from previous works often re-appear as motifs for new paintings as he continues to explore the idea of ‘painting without paint’.
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FRANZ WEST b. 1947
‘West’s sculptures are intrinsically amorphous, apparently formless in
Sculpture: Meeting Point 2, 2000. Painting: Plakatentwürf (Poster design) (Meeting
their appearance, and may be observed and/or used. Their dignified
Points), 2001 Sculpture: enamel on aluminium, wooden plinth. Painting: digital print, lacquer,
presentation and staging induces the viewer’s contemplation, otherwise
acrylic and collage on foamboard mounted to aluminium. Sculpture: 126 x 372 x
reserved for more solemn art forms, but which here in fact allows the
296 cm. (49 1/2 x 146 1/2 x 116 1/2 in). Painting: 172 x 231 cm. (67 3/4 x 91 in).
anti-sculpture to come properly into its own. Similarly the plinth – which
Estimate £ 5 0 , 0 0 0 -70 , 0 0 0
$ 8 2 ,70 0 -118 , 0 0 0
€ 57,10 0 -7 9, 9 0 0 ♠‡
modern art has been at such pains to overcome – does not constitute a contradiction in West’s work. Nor does it represent a sudden
Provenance Sculpture: Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck; Painting:
introduction of conservatism. The plinths are just as non-formalist as
Gagosian Gallery, London; Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck
the other elements of the sculptures, and are incorporated into these,
exhibited Innsbruck, Schlosspark Ambras, Franz West: die Aluskulptur, 4 June -
15 October, 2000; Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Franz West: Meeting Points, 12
creating small environments: Gesamtkunstwerk – synthesized artforms.
August - 14 October, 2001(sculpture); Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Franz West:
All of this goes into making up West’s concept of his art: turning his
Meeting Points, 12 August - 14 October, 2001; Innsbruck, Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus
back on traditions of the sublime and the monumental in twentieth
Thoman, Franz West, 2002 (painting) Literature Exhibition catalogue, Schlosspark Ambras, Franz West: die
Aluskulptur, Cologne, 2000, p. 28 (sculpture illustrated)
century sculpture, he breathes new life into the concept of a sculpture as a three-dimensional object with which one can have a personal, physical encounter. Consequently, West occupies a major role in contemporary sculpture.’ (R. Fleck, Sex and the Modern Sculptor, Franz West, London, Phaidon Press Limited, 1999)
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ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG 1925 - 2008 Rebundance, 1995 Fire wax and transfer on canvas in the artist’s painted aluminium frame. 216.9 x 155.9 cm. (85 3/8 x 61 3/8 in). Signed and dated ‘Robert Rauschenberg 95’ lower left.
Estimate £18 0 , 0 0 0 - 2 2 0 , 0 0 0
$298,0 0 0 -364,0 0 0
€ 2 0 6 , 0 0 0 - 2 51, 0 0 0
Provenance Knoedler & Company, New York; Private collection, London exhibited New York, Knoedler & Company, Robert Rauschenberg, 1995; London, Royal
Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, 2009
‘Where does beauty begin and where does it end? Where it ends is where the artist begins. In this way we get our navigation done for us. If you hear that Rauschenberg has painted a new painting, the wisest thing to do is to drop everything and manage one way or another to see it. That’s how to learn the way to use your eyes, sunup the next day.’ (John Cage, ‘On Robert Rauschenberg, Artist, and his work’ in Metro, Milan, May, 1961)
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JOHN ARMLEDER b. 1948 Furniture Sculpture 230, 1989 Three velvet upholstered sidechairs and acrylic on panel. 112 x 180 x 150 cm. (44 x 70 3/4 x 59 in.) Signed, titled and dated ‘John Armleder 1989 FS230’ on the reverse of one chair and on the reverse of the plinth.
Estimate £ 3 0 , 0 0 0 - 4 0 , 0 0 0
$ 4 9 , 6 0 0 - 6 6 ,10 0
€ 3 4 , 3 0 0 - 4 5 ,70 0 ‡
Provenance Galerie Marika Malacorda, Geneva; Private collection, Switzerland exhibited Geneva, Galerie Marika Malacorda, John Armleder, 1989; Geneva,
Museé d’art moderne et contemporain, Amor vacui, horror vacui, 18 October, 2006 21 January, 2007 Literature Exhibition catalogue, Musee Rath, John M. Armleder: Furniture
Sculpture: 1980-1990, p. 110 (illustrated)
Begun in 1979, the Furniture Sculptures form a pivotal body of work from John Armleder’s extensive and diverse oeuvre. The present lot, a 1989 assemblage comprised of three vintage upholstered chairs symmetrically arranged on a painted plinth, is a powerful example of the Swiss artist’s masterful navigation of the terrain between art and design, painting and the object. Following on from his influential predecessor John Cage and the artists of the Fluxus movement, Armleder continually blurs the lines and definitions of the ‘decorative’ and the ‘fine art’, the ‘readymade’ and the ‘sculpture.’ Along with his American 1980s contemporaries, the Neo-Geo group comprised of the likes of Jeff Koons, Peter Halley and Haim Steinbach, John Armleder’s groundbreaking avant-garde art and in particular his Furniture Sculptures from that decade were a blend of different artistic media and disciplines which created a new form of expression. ‘I guess the Furniture Sculptures were first a take on Erik Satie’s Furniture Music, compositions that were to be heard rather than listened to. It was early ambient music, elevator music, and also early repetitive or minimal music. For Satie, it was sort of a dissapointment that people took it as concert work when it was featured as background entertainment at a vernissage. The entertainment issue is something that I address in my own work. To use a dry, almost academic approach, the object quality of the painting is associated with the piece of furniture. The happy or notso-happy fate of many paintings is to be integrated into a domestic environment, more often than not close to the odd sofa, armchair, or chest. As Olivier Mosset once observed, I simply anticipate that, and provide the furniture together with the painting.’ (John Armleder in conversation with Raphaela Platow, October 2006 as quoted in exhibition catalogue, John M. Armleder. not Enough, Hanover, 2006, p. 99)
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WIM DELVOYE b. 1965 Basket, 1989 Stained glass, Basketball hoop rim and site specific wall drawing. 120.5 x 184 x 63.5 cm. (47 1/2 x 72 3/8 x 25 in). This work is accompanied by installation instructions and a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Estimate £15 , 0 0 0 - 2 0 , 0 0 0
$ 24 , 8 0 0 - 3 3 ,10 0
€17,10 0 - 2 2 , 8 0 0 ♠‡
Provenance Galerie Bébert, Rotterdam exhibited Geneva, Halle Sud, Haut Pays-Bas, 1989-90
The artistic output of conceptual Belgian artist Wim Delvoye is wide ranging and richly layered. He gained notoriety in 1992 when he displayed his elaborately sculpted faeces on ornate tiles at Documenta in Kassel. Delvoye has continually pushed the boundaries of what is permissible, blurring the parameters between art and life. The present lot, a site specific installation comprised of a wall drawing of a basketball hoop backboard and a stained glass basketball net, is an early work in which Delvoye combines his love of sculpture and craft, his subversive sense of humour and his desire to create an oeuvre which poignantly comments on our contemporary society. ‘The art of Belgian artist Wim Delvoye is notable for the irony and humour with which it subverts popular and common objects. The work of this critic of modern consumerism has often been compared to that of a sixteen-century compatriot, Bruegel, who filled his paintings with incongruous associations bearing the stamp of folklore and the burlesque. Delvoye thus belongs in a specifically Belgian artistic tradition of combining humour, absurdity and incongruity, one that stretches from bambochades to Marcel Broodthaers. But Delvoye’s influences are not limited to this culture of carnivalesque laughter, for he has also been inspired by the decorative features of the Gothic architecture found in abundance in his homeland, and uses rose windows, ogive arches and blazons to decorate the everyday objects that he appropriates from our consumer society, such as diggers, concrete mixers, trucks and ironing boards.’ (K. Tuszynski, Of Mice And Men, X Rays, Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Geneva, 2008)
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Francis alÿs b. 1959 Untitled, 2002 Oil and encaustic on canvas mounted on wooden panel. 14.3 x 17.7 cm. (5 5/8 x 7 in). Signed and dated ‘Francis Alÿs 2002’ on the reverse.
Estimate £ 4 0 , 0 0 0 - 6 0 , 0 0 0
$ 6 6 ,10 0 - 9 9 , 2 0 0
€ 4 5 ,70 0 - 6 8 , 5 0 0 ♠
Provenance Peter Kilchmann, Zurich
Over the past two decades, Francis Alÿs has created a highly varied oeuvre incorporating performance, painting, film making and documentary photography which deals primarly with the social and economic condition of his adopted Mexico. Throughout the 90s, the Belgian born artist, whose artistic endeavour is deeply rooted in the tradition of the Situationists and the Fluxus movement, had Mexican billboard painters reproduce and enlarge his small scale canvases of nondescript, deadpan imagery to create multi panel installations that question the notion of authorship and ownership. The present lot, a charming, deftly executed painting from 2002, has a certain humurous and absurd quality reminiscent of the Belgian master René Magritte. With the vantage point framed like an hapazard Surrealist photograph, Francis Alÿs depicts the act of viewing a painting, one that is strikingly similar to the present lot, in a sparse domestic environment. Should we, the viewers, identify with the suited gentleman admiring the small canvas of a shirtless man walking in a hilly landscape? Or is that the artist viewing his own work? Francis Alÿs’ oblique oeuvre is certainly not immediately obvious, but with time one is charmed by his elusive, poetic world. ‘My paintings, my images, are only attempting to illustrate situations I confront, provoke or “perform” on a more public, usually urban - and ephemeral level . I’m trying to make a very clear distinction in between what will be addressing the street and what will be directed to the gallery wall. The photo residue of an act acquires a very different status (other than the act itself) once hanged on a gallery wall. It can become the finality of the piece. I tried to create painted images that could become equivalents to the action, souvenirs without literally representing the act itself. Most of the time, I would try to imagine a more domestic situation that could translate a similar situation, but also function as an autonomous painting on the wall, and fulfill the more “commercial” aspect of the profession, within its commonly accepted parameters. (Francis Alÿs in conversation with Gianni Romano, ‘Francis Alÿs: streets and gallery walls’ Flash Art #211, 2000)
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TONY CRAGG b. 1949 Blue Horn (Axt), 1982 Mixed media installation comprised of 40 painted found objects. Approximate installation dimensions: 175 x 360 x 470 cm. (69 x 142 x 185 in). This work is accompanied by an installation template.
Estimate £ 8 0 , 0 0 0 -10 0 , 0 0 0
$13 2 , 0 0 0 -16 5 , 0 0 0
€ 91,4 0 0 -114 , 0 0 0 ♠‡
Provenance Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich exhibited Kunsthalle Bern, Tony Cragg, 30 April - 5 June, 1983; Kassel, Documenta VIII,
June - September, 1987 Literature Exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle Bern, Tony Cragg, Bern, 1983, p. 79, no.
38 (illustrated)
In early 1980s Britain, an historically turbulant time both socially and politically, a new form of sculpture emerged led by a young graduate of London’s Royal College of Art named Tony Cragg. After the austere rationalism of Minimalism, Cragg and his contemporaries sought to reconnect sculpture with the messy, everyday world of objects, to reflect the influence of science and technology and to evoke social relations. The present lot, a beautifully arranged large scale floor sculpture from 1982, is a prime early example of Cragg’s use of found materials, discarded objects and disposed and recycled household goods. The artist collected forty objects and painted them various shades of blue then laid them out on the floor in a half moon shape giving the random detritus an aesthetic and symbolic meaning. ‘Tony Cragg’s scultures are vivid references to the daily attack on our senses to which we city-dwellers are subjected, and with these bricollages the barely thirty-year old Cragg shot to the forefront of the British avant garde during the early Thatcher years as a pioneer figure.’ (C. Lichtenstern, ‘Tony Cragg’s Extension of the Figure, The Emancipation from the Statis to Kinaesthetic Perception’, in exhibition catalogue, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Tony Cragg: Second Nature, Salzburg, 2009, p. 233)
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ROSEMARIE TROCKEL b. 1952 Ich kannte mich nicht aus, 1988 Metal, wood, yarn and gelatin silver print. 120 x 56 x 55 cm. (47 1/4 x 44 x 21 5/8 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘ Trockel Ich kannte mich nicht aus 1988’ on the base of the metal stand.
Estimate £ 3 0 , 0 0 0 - 5 0 , 0 0 0
$ 4 9 , 6 0 0 - 8 2 ,70 0
€ 3 4 , 3 0 0 - 57,10 0 ♠‡
Provenance Galerie Karlheinz Meyer, Karlsruhe
‘An art scene that has been largely male-dominated, even into the 1980s, spurs Rosemarie Trockel to dissent. She persistently formulates counter positions in which she confronts the male artist-genius with feminine roles and subject matter. The various groups of works reflect her standpoint within a decidedly feminine artistic realm and are unstinting in their fundamental critique of the prevailing art system. Despite her critical stance, Rosemarie Trockel’s works encounter the viewer as lively, highly imaginative conceptual constructs and as vivid and convincing artistic creations. The artist manages to visualise even weighty intellectual cargo in an ironic and humorous way, avoiding dogmatic oppositions or, indeed, polemic. Rosemarie Trockel does not develop her work in a linear manner, but prefers to take intentionally circuitous artistic paths. With a thoroughly deconstructive method, she places every answer, once found, again in question, or even takes the answer back. The uninitiated observer might therefore find her work heterogeneous and, at first, not easily accessible. And yet a finely woven web of associations is spun around each group of works in which the motifs, once formulated, undergo manifold variations in different media over the years and so decipher themselves. In her works, traditional and new visual media make astonishing connections for the viewer again and again.’ (Exhibition catalogue, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen , Rosemarie Trockel, Stuttgart, 2009)
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FRANZ WEST b. 1947 Platform (2 Paßstücke), 1998 Acrylic, plaster, papier-mâché and gauze in two parts, 2 wooden plinths, 1 wooden base. Paßstücke: 15 x 51 x 19 cm. (6 x 20 x 7 1/2 in). & 42 x 34 x 22 cm. (16 1/2 x 13 1/2 x 8 1/2 in).; base: 200 x 300 cm. (78 3/4 x 118 in).
Estimate £ 6 0 , 0 0 0 - 8 0 , 0 0 0
$ 9 9 , 2 0 0 -13 2 , 0 0 0
€ 6 8 , 5 0 0 - 91,4 0 0 ♠‡
Provenance Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt exhibited Anvers, Openluchtmuseum voor Beeldhouwkunst Middelheim, Franz
West, 6 June - 16 August, 1998; Kunstverein Braunschweig, Franz West Sammlung,: Ich sammle Mich, 23 June - 19 August, 2001 Literature Exhibition catalogue, Openluchtmuseum voor Beeldhouwkunst
Middelheim, Franz West, Anvers, 1998, pp. 16, 37-38 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Franz West Sammlung,: Ich sammle Mich, Braunschweig, 2001, pp. 16-19 (illustrated)
In the early 70s, the young Austrian artist Franz West began to make small assemblage sculptures incorporating papier-mâché, plaster, polyester and bandage material that was wrapped around wire frames which he titled ‘Paßstück’, literally translating to ‘adaptive.’ West’s intention with this body of work was, and still is today, that the viewer engage with, handle, the sculptures in order to fully experience their ‘ergonomic’ nature. In a humorous dig at the sacrilegious and violent Viennese Actionists, the early ‘adaptives’ from the 70s were part of performance works where the participants carried the sculptures as prosthetics in various poses, standing calmly, slightly bent or striding ahead. ‘West’s Adaptives almost work exploitations of the body, like superfluous organs; and therefore, they also have an element of the grotesque and the clown-like. Because of serious, conceptual artistic processes, West has an effect, like someone mimicking another person’s gestures behind his back and making them look ridiculous. Even the materials that he uses do not correspond to the canon of seriousness. The papier-mâché that West still regularly uses for sculptures is a provisional material that is applied not for durability, but for quick completion and spontaneous use.’ (L. Seyfarth, ‘Grotesque Doubles: Adaptives and Ealan’s Desire’ by Franz West, in exhibition catalogue, Kunsthaus Bregenz, We’ll not carry coals, Cologne, 2003, p. 33)
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41
TONY CRAGG b. 1949 Paysage Suisse (Swiss Landscape), 1983 Painted wood in 42 parts. Approximate installation dimensions: 210 x 320 cm. (82 3/4 x 126 in). Signed and dated ‘T. CRAGG “Paysage Suisse” 1983’ on the installation template.
Estimate £ 3 0 , 0 0 0 - 4 0 , 0 0 0
$ 4 9 , 6 0 0 - 6 6 ,10 0
€ 3 4 , 3 0 0 - 4 5 ,70 0 ♠‡
Provenance Galerie Buchmann, Basel exhibited Basel, Galerie Buchman, Tony Cragg: Zwei Landschaften, 1983 Literature A. Wildermuth, Tony Cragg: Zwei Landschaften, Basel,
1983, p. 9 (illustrated)
‘Cragg’s materials were commonplace, low in value and overlooked. Even if his art occupied a space no more public than the museum, it was nonetheless a new view of the world from street level, as close to a public art as was possible at the moment. His work showed that a threshold had been crossed which made many of the debates defining the 1960s obselete. Modernism’s fear of the theatrical is not an issue, and minimalism’s determination to maintain human scale while avoiding anthropomorphic overtones has been reversed, so that scale becomes monumental and the work openly figurative. This gives Cragg’s work the character of a public statement.’ (Andrew Casey as quoted in C. Lichtenstern, ‘Tony Cragg’s Extension of the Figure, The Emancipation from the Statis to Kinaesthetic Perception’, in exhibition catalogue, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Tony Cragg: Second Nature, Salzburg, 2009, p. 233)
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42
Jitish Kallat 1974
Jitish Kallat manipulates the languages of pop and agitprop to
Suffix (Herbaceous Perennial) - 1, 2006
aesthetically and intellectually address human struggle and survival
Triptych: acrylic and glitter on canvas, painted fibreglass. 229 x 514 x 25.4 cm. (90 x 202 x 10 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘2006 JITISH KALLAT SUFFIX
in contemporary India. In his paintings, sculptures, photographs and installations, Kallat presents imagery which purposely thwarts
(HERBACEOUS PERENNIAL)-1’ on the overlap.
the “slickness” of advertisements and graphic design pervading Estimate £12 0 , 0 0 0 -18 0 , 0 0 0
$19 8 , 0 0 0 - 2 9 8 , 0 0 0
€13 7, 0 0 0 - 2 0 6 , 0 0 0 ‡
today’s visual media, instead showcasing a gritty realism taken from
Provenance Arario Gallery, Seoul
the rain streaked building facades and packed streets of Mumbai,
exhibited Busan Museum of Modern Art, Indian Contemporary Art – Hungry God, 2006
Kallat’s home. In a statement by the artist about Suffix (Herbaceous Perennial) -1, Kallat explains: “Suffix (Herbaceous Perennial)-1 refers back to the suite of paintings I made in 2005 titled ‘Herbarium (Annual-Perennial)’; they also derive from many of my earlier works where the city of Mumbai is a recurrent theme, often treated as a consistent theatre of survival and mortality. The painting is mounted on sculptural supports which are shaped like inverted bird legs.
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Unlike a whole range of my works made between 1998 and 2004, the painfully claustrophobic image of the crowded city is converted into human scaled black flowers: each colliding petal is morphed into a face. The inverted bird legs are appended to this bittersweet imagery like a potent suffix. They animate the picture and evoke a variety of images, including that of birds held in captivity, tethered and hung by their legs. The reading of this work can extend beyond my engagement with the city and broaden as a kind of tangential history painting, speaking about the inequitable pecking order of the world. Another dimension to this assemblage, enshrined in its title, is the notion of resilience that is a recurrent motif in my work: ‘Herbaceous Perennial’ are plants whose growth dies down annually but whose roots survive.” (Jitish Kallat in conversation with Veronica Collins, September 1, 2008)
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43
LARRY POONS b. 1937 Cotherman, 1981 Acrylic on canvas. 262.3 x 176.2 cm. (103 1/4 x 69 3/8 in). Signed, titled and dated ‘Larry Poons 1981 Cotherman’ on the reverse.
Estimate £ 2 0 , 0 0 0 - 3 0 , 0 0 0
$ 3 3 ,10 0 - 4 9 , 6 0 0
€22,80 0 -34,30 0 ‡
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist
‘When I was at the Museum School, I couldn’t draw. I tried. But I found a way – or it found me, I suppose – where if I didn’t look at the paper, and didn’t look at what my hand was doing, and just looked at what I was drawing, I could do it much better than I’d ever done before. I think it was the same with Pollock too. He felt he couldn’t draw, and he couldn’t in the way that he felt he should. It wasn’t until he realized that it’s not about color being pushed into something, it’s about color falling into something. Of course the only tool a painter has – or ever had – to make paintings is color. It’s all color. There is no drawing in painting, just like Cézanne said. What you think is drawing is just two colors coming together, and if the colors aren’t harmonious (to use Cézanne’s word) then neither is the drawing, and it’s a bad painting.’ (Larry Poons in conversation with Robert Ayers, 2007)
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44
ANDREAS GURSKY b. 1955 Flugzeug Düsseldorf, 1989 Chromogenic colour print in the artist’s wooden frame. 153 x 193 cm. (60 1.4 x 76 in). Signed, titled, dated ‘Andreas Gursky Flugzeug Düsseldorf 1989’ and numbered of four on the reverse. This work is from an edition of four.
Estimate £70 , 0 0 0 - 9 0 , 0 0 0
$116 , 0 0 0 -14 9 , 0 0 0
€ 7 9, 9 0 0 -10 3 , 0 0 0 ♠‡
Provenance Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples; Sprüth Magers Lee, London exhibited Krefeld, Museum Haus Lange, Andreas Gursky, 5 November - 17 December,
1989 (another example exhibited); Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Amsterdam, De Appel Stichting, Andreas Gursky: Photographs 1984-1993, 1994; Kunstmuseum Krefeld, Haus Lange und Haus Esters, 10 December, 2008 - 25 January, 2009; Stockholm, Moderna Museet, 21 February - 3 May, 2009; Vancouver Art Gallery, 30 May - 20 September, 2009, Andreas Gursky. Works 80-08 (another example exhibited) Literature J. Heynen, ed., Andreas Gursky, Krefeld, 1989, n.p. (illustrated); Z. Felix,
ed., Andreas Gursky: Fotografien 1984-1993, Munich, 1994, p. 24 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Andreas Gursky. Works 80-08, Ostfilden, 2008, p. 91 (illustrated)
‘In the work that Gursky presented to the world in the late 1980s, the most significant development was the radical reduction of the antlike multitude of group leisure to a single figure, or just a few. The shift decisively altered the viewer’s relationship to the image, transforming detached scrutiny of an undifferentiated crowd into a sympathetic identification with a solitary being, who is dwarfed by the expanse of nature. The distant prospect from an elevated position, for example, belongs to a very old class of imagery, born of an accommodation between the map-like schemas of primitive pictures and the unique, fixed vantage point of Renaissance perspective. It makes of the viewer a God-like presence, everywhere and nowhere at once, granting us a sense of overarching possession while excluding us from direct participation in the toylike realm.’ (Peter Galassi, ‘Gursky’s World’, in exhibition catalogue, The Museum of Modern Art, Andreas Gursky, New York, 2001, p. 25)
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index
Accardi, C. 120 Adami, V. 187
Nitsch, H. 13
Alys, F. 37,184, 186
Nitsche, F. 138, 139
Aoshima, C. 192, 193 Armleder, J. 24, 35, 128 Baechler, D. 257 Banner, F. 284 Basquiat, J-M. 12 Becher, B. & H. 286, 287 Beecroft, V. 324, 325, 326 Bludov, A. 261 Bock, J. 176 Bourgeois, L. 135 Bove, C. 174 Brandl, H. 222 Brinkworth, K. 291 Bujnowski, R. 309 Buren, D. 121 Cai, G. Q. 203 Campinini, P. 254 Carnegie, G. 319 Castellani, E. 109 Caulfield, P. 236 Celmins, V. 171 Chapman, J & D. 14 Chichkan, I. 266 Christo 185 Colen, D. 26 Collishaw, M. 172 Condo, G. 153, 154, 310 Conroy, S. 224 Cragg, T. 38, 41 Creed, M. 124 Darboven, H. 147 David, E. 152 de Balincourt, J. 158 de Beeck, H. o. 290 Deller, J. 332 Delvoye, W. 36, 131 DiCorcia, P.-L. 328, 329 Dragset, I. & Elmgreen, M. 2, 218 Dulphan, D. 276 Eliasson, O. 23, 168 Elmgreen, M. & Dragset, I. 2, 218 Favaretto, L. 104 Federle, H. 232, 233 Fischli, P. & Weiss, D. 288 Fleury, S. 223 Fontana, L. 30, 106 Förg, G. 31,140, 141, 235 Frisch Peri, S. 108 Fryer, P. 102 Fuksas, M. 116 Gallaccio, A. 136 Ganesh, C. 209 Geers, K. 117, 321 Geys, J. 132 Ghadirian, S. 216 Giehler, T. 252 Gnilitsky, A. 275 Goldin, N. 119, 292, 305 Goldstein, J. 122 Gonzalez, W. 240, 241 Gormley, A. 317 Greene, M. 178 Gupta, S. 210 Gursky, A. 44
Hafif, M. 239 Hains, R. 181, 182 Haring, K. 189 Hassanzadeh, K. 214 Hatoum, M. 103 Havekost, E. 245 Henning, A. 253 Herold, G. 221 Hirst, D. 160, 161 Hnilitska, K. 271 Hodges, J. 3 Holzapfel, O. 227, 228, 229 Hong, H. 207 Horn, R. 164 Hutte, A. 163 Hybert, F. 115 Hylden, N. 230, 231 Isupov, I. 277 Jensen, S. 32, 237, 238 Kadan, N. 274 Kahrs, J. 179 Kallat, J. 42 Kapoor, A. 316 Kawara, O. 29 Kelley, M. 118, 259, 283 Kersels, M. 255 Kiefer, A. 114 Kippenberger, M. 5, 6, 7, 8, 25, 220, 248 Klein, Y. 133 Klymenko, A. 272 Knobloch, T. 244 Knoebel, I. 125 Koh, T. 217 Kosolapov, A. 278, 279 Kosuth, J. 175 Lakra, Dr. 322, 323 Lambie, J. 130 Lawler, L. 126, 282 Lee, U. 177 Lucas, S. 285 Luo Brothers 206 Maier-Aichen, F. 20, 165, 166, 167 Mamsikov, M. 267 Mangold, R. 145, 146 Manzelli, M. 15 Marepe 148 Martin, B. 258 Martinec, H. 289 McCarthy, P. 16, 149, 293 McCracken, J. 22, 143, 144 McGee, B. 280, 281 McGinnis, R. 249, 250 Meese, J. 9, 246 Melotti, F. 107 Morrison, P. 313 Moshiri, F. 213 Motsenko, M. 273 Mr 197 Muniz, V. 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304 Muntean, M. & Rosenblum, A. 157, 312 Nara, Y. 196 Neshat, S. 215
Novikov, I. 263 Opie, J. 150, 151 Ortega, D. 123 Parrino, S. 11, 137 Peri, P. 226 Perry, G. 155, 156 Pettibon, R. 318 Pierre et Gilles 112 Polke, S. 190, 191 Poons, L. 43, 180 Quinn, M. 162 Raedecker, M. 19 Rauschenberg, R. 34 Reyle, A. 219 Richter, G. 183 Roitburd, A.
260, 265
Rondinone, U. 21, 307 Rosenblum, A. & Muntean, M. 157, 312 Rovner, M. 297 Ruby, S. 4, 294 Ruff, T. 17, 170, 296, 306 Salisbury, S. 320 Savadov, A. 268, 269 Scheibl, H. 256 Schutz, D. 247 Sherman, C. 10, 18, 169 Shinwald, M. 331 Stingel, R. 111, 134 Strunz, K. 129 Sugito, H. 195 Sullivan, C. 330 Sydorenko, V. 264 Takano, A. 194 Tayou, P. M. 110 Tillmans, W. 173, 333, 334 Tistol, O. 262 Tremlett, D. 315 Trockel, R. 39, 242, 243 Troubina, V. 270 Tunick, S. 327 Turk, G. 159 Tyson, K. 105, 251 Vautier, B. 101, 314 Vezzoli, F. 113 von Hellerman, S. 311 Wallace, I. 234 Walsh, D. 1, 142 Wang, D. 208 Wang, X. 199 Wang, Z. 205 Warhol, A. 28, 188, 295 Weiser, G. 225 Weiss, D. & Fischli, P. 288 West, F. 33, 40 Wool, C. 27 Yan, P. M. 202, 204 Yan, Q. 200 Young, R. 308 Zhang, H. 201 Zhang, P. 198
Guyton, W. 127 Haerizadeh, R. 211, 212
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2 Bidding in the Sale
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the Bleich-Rossi collection An iMPoRtAnt collection oF woRks By MARtin kiPPenBeRGeR AnD his collABoRAtoRs oFFeReD FoR PRiVAte sAle
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2 Bidding in the Sale
interested Parties announcement
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Bids may be executed during the auction in person by paddle or by telephone or prior
such lot, such as the beneficiary or executor of an estate selling the lot, a joint owner
to the sale in writing by absentee bid. Proof of identity in the form of government
of the lot or a party providing or participating in a guarantee on the lot, Phillips de
issued identification will be required, as will an original signature. We may also
Pury & Company will make an announcement in the saleroom that interested parties
require that you furnish us with a bank reference.
may bid on the lot.
Bidding in Person
consecutive and Responsive Bidding
To bid in person, you will need to register for and collect a paddle before the auction
The auctioneer may open the bidding on any lot by placing a bid on behalf of the seller.
begins. New clients are encouraged to register at least 48 hours in advance of a sale to
The auctioneer may further bid on behalf of the seller up to the amount of the reserve
allow sufficient time for us to process your information. All lots sold will be invoiced to
by placing consecutive bids or bids in response to other bidders.
the name and address to which the paddle has been registered and invoices cannot be transferred to other names and addresses. Please do not misplace your paddle. In the event you lose it, inform a Phillips de Pury & Company
4 afteR the auction
staff member immediately. At the end of the auction, please return your paddle to the
Payment
registration desk.
Buyers are required to pay for purchases immediately following the auction unless other arrangements are agreed with Phillips de Pury & Company in writing in advance
Bidding by telephone
of the sale. Payments must be made in pounds sterling either by cash, cheque drawn
If you cannot attend the auction, you may bid live on the telephone with one of our
on a UK bank or wire transfer, as noted in Paragraph 6 of the Conditions of Sale. It is
multi-lingual staff members. This service must be arranged at least 24 hours in
our corporate policy not to make or accept single or multiple payments in cash or cash
advance of the sale and is available for lots whose low pre-sale estimate is at least
equivalents in excess of the local currency equivalent of US$10,000.
£500. Telephone bids may be recorded. By bidding on the telephone, you consent to the recording of your conversation. We suggest that you leave a maximum bid, excluding the buyer’s premium and VAT, which we can execute on your behalf in the event we are
credit cards
unable to reach you by telephone.
As a courtesy to clients, Phillips de Pury & Company will accept Visa, Mastercard and UK-issued debit cards to pay for invoices of £50,000 or less. A processing fee will apply.
absentee Bids If you are unable to attend the auction and cannot participate by telephone, Phillips de Pury & Company will be happy to execute written bids on your behalf. A bidding form
collection
can be found at the back of this catalogue. This service is free and confidential. Bids
It is our policy to request proof of identity on collection of a lot. A lot will be released
must be placed in the currency of the sale. Our staff will attempt to execute an
to the buyer or the buyer’s authorized representative when Phillips de Pury & Company
absentee bid at the lowest possible price taking into account the reserve and other
has received full and cleared payment and we are not owed any other amount by the
bidders. Always indicate a maximum bid, excluding the buyer’s premium and VAT.
buyer. Promptly after the auction, we will transfer all lots to a third party storage
Unlimited bids will not be accepted. Any absentee bid must be received at least 24
facility and will so advise all buyers. If you are in doubt about the location of your
hours in advance of the sale. In the event of identical bids, the earliest bid received will
purchase, please contact the Shipping Department prior to arranging collection. We
take precedence.
will levy removal, interest, storage and handling charges on uncollected lots.
employee Bidding
loss or damage
Employees of Phillips de Pury & Company and our affiliated companies, including the
Buyers are reminded that Phillips de Pury & Company accepts liability for loss or
auctioneer, may bid at the auction by placing absentee bids so long as they do not
damage to lots for a maximum of five days following the auction.
know the reserve when submitting their absentee bids and otherwise comply with our
transport and Shipping
employee bidding procedures.
As a free service for buyers, Phillips de Pury & Company will wrap purchased lots for hand carry only. We do not provide packing, handling or shipping services directly.
Bidding increments
However, we will coordinate with shipping agents instructed by you in order to
Bidding generally opens below the low estimate and advances in increments of up to
facilitate the packing, handling and shipping of property purchased at Phillips
10%, subject to the auctioneer’s discretion. Absentee bids that do not conform to the
de Pury & Company. Please refer to Paragraph 7 of the Conditions of Sale for
increments set below may be lowered to the next bidding increment.
more information.
UK£50 to UK£1,000
by UK£50s
export and import licenses
UK£1,000 to UK£2,000
by UK£100s
Before bidding for any property, prospective bidders are advised to make independent
UK£2,000 to UK£3,000
by UK£200s
enquiries as to whether a license is required to export the property from the United
UK£3,000 to UK£5,000
by UK£200s, 500, 800
Kingdom or to import it into another country. It is the buyer’s sole responsibility to
(i.e. UK£4,200, 4,500, 4,800)
comply with all import and export laws and to obtain any necessary licenses or
UK£5,000 to UK£10,000
by UK£500s
permits. The denial of any required license or permit or any delay in obtaining such
UK£10,000 to UK£20,000
by UK£1,000s
documentation will not justify the cancellation of the sale or any delay in making full
UK£20,000 to UK£30,000
by UK£2,000s
payment for the lot.
UK£30,000 to UK£50,000
by UK£2,000s, 5,000, 8,000
UK£50,000 to UK£100,000
by UK£5,000s
endangered Species
UK£100,000 to UK£200,000
by UK£10,000s
Items made of or incorporating plant or animal material, such as coral, crocodile, ivory,
above UK£200,000
auctioneer’s discretion
whalebone, rhinoceros horn or tortoiseshell, irrespective of age, percentage or value, may require a license or certificate prior to exportation and additional licenses or
The auctioneer may vary the increments during the course of the auction at his or her
certificates upon importation to any country outside the European Union (EU). Please
own discretion.
note that the ability to obtain an export license or certificate does not ensure the ability to obtain an import license or certificate in another country, and vice versa. We suggest that prospective bidders check with their own government regarding wildlife
3 the auction
import requirements prior to placing a bid. It is the buyer’s sole responsibility to obtain
conditions of Sale
any necessary export or import licenses or certificates as well as any other required
As noted above, the auction is governed by the Conditions of Sale and Authorship
documentation. The denial of any required license or certificate or any delay in
Warranty. All prospective bidders should read them carefully. They may be amended
obtaining such documentation will not justify the cancellation of the sale or any delay
by saleroom addendum or auctioneer’s announcement.
in making full payment for the lot.
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CONTEMPORARY ART AUCTIONS NEW YORK PART I 12 NOVEMBER 2009 7pm PART II Viewing 7 – 12 November
13 NOVEMBER 2009 10am & 2pm
Phillips de Pury & Company 450 West 15 Street New York 10011 Enquiries +1 212 940 1260 Catalogues +1 212 940 1240 / +44 20 7318 4039 www.phillipsdepury.com OLAFUR ELIASSON 1m3 light, 1999 Estimate $300,000-500,000
08_LON_OCT_CONT Backmatter.indd 359
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VAT And oTher TAx informATion for buyers
Where the buyer carries purchases from the EU personally or uses the services of a third party, Phillips de Pury & Company will charge the VAT amount due as a deposit and refund it if the lot has been exported within three months of the date of sale
The following paragraphs provide general information to buyers on the VAT and
and the following conditions are met:
certain other potential tax implications of purchasing property at Phillips de Pury & Company. This information is not intended to be complete. In all cases, the relevant tax
• For lots sold under the Auctioneer’s Margin Scheme or the normal VAT
legislation takes precedence, and the VAT rates in effect on the day of the auction will
rules, Phillips de Pury & Company is provided with appropriate
be the rates charged. It should be noted that, for VAT purposes only, Phillips de Pury &
documentary proof of export from the EU. Buyers carrying their own
Company is not usually treated as agent and most property is sold as if it is the
property should obtain hand-carry papers from the Shipping Department
property of Phillips de Pury & Company. In the following paragraphs, reference to VAT
to facilitate this process; or
symbols shall mean those symbols located beside the lot number or the pre-sale
• For lots sold under temporary importation, Phillips de Pury & Company is
estimates in the catalogue (or amending saleroom addendum).
provided with a copy of the correct paperwork duly completed and stamped by HM Revenue and Customs which shows the property has been exported
1 ProPerTy wiTh no VAT symbol
from the EU via the UK. It is essential for shippers acting on behalf of
Where there is no VAT symbol, Phillips de Pury & Company is able to use the
buyers to collect copies of original import papers from our Shipping
Auctioneer’s Margin Scheme, and VAT will not normally be charged on the
Department. HM Revenue and Customs insist that the correct customs
hammer price.
procedures are followed and Phillips de Pury & Company will not be able to issue any refunds where the export documents do not exactly comply with
Phillips de Pury & Company must bear VAT on the buyer’s premium. Therefore, we will
governmental regulations. Property subject to temporary importation must
charge an amount in lieu of VAT at 15% on the buyer’s premium. This amount will form
be transferred to another customs procedure immediately if any restoration
part of the buyer’s premium on our invoice and will not be separately identified.
or repair work is to be carried out.
2 ProPerTy wiTh A † symbol
Buyers carrying their own property must obtain hand-carry papers from the Shipping
These lots will be sold under the normal UK VAT rules, and VAT will be charged at 15%
Department, for which a charge of £20 will be made. The VAT refund will be processed
on both the hammer price and buyer’s premium.
once the appropriate paperwork has been returned to Phillips de Pury & Company. Phillips de Pury & Company is not able to cancel or refund any VAT charged on sales
3 ProPerTy wiTh A § symbol
made to UK or EU private residents unless the lot is subject to temporary importation
Lots sold to buyers whose registered address is in the EU will be assumed to be
and the property is exported from the EU within three months of the sale date. Any
remaining in the EU. The property will be invoiced as if it had no VAT symbol. However,
refund of VAT is subject to a minimum of £50 per shipment and a processing charge
if an EU buyer advises us that the property is to be exported from the EU, Phillips de
of £20.
Pury & Company will re-invoice the property under the normal VAT rules. Buyers intending to export, repair, restore or alter lots under temporary importation Lots sold to buyers whose address is outside the EU will be assumed to be exported
should notify the Shipping Department before collection. Failure to do so may result in
from the EU. The property will be invoiced under the normal VAT rules. Although the
the import VAT becoming payable immediately and Phillips de Pury & Company being
hammer price will be subject to VAT, the VAT will be canceled or refunded upon export.
unable to refund the VAT charged on deposit.
The buyer’s premium will always bear VAT. However, buyers who are not intending to export their property from the EU should notify our Client Accounting Department on
6 VAT refunds from hm reVenue And CusToms
the day of the sale, and the property will be re-invoiced showing no VAT on the
Where VAT charged cannot be cancelled or refunded by Phillips de Pury & Company,
hammer price.
it may be possible to seek repayment from HM Revenue and Customs. Repayments in this manner are limited to businesses located outside the UK and may be
4 ProPerTy sold wiTh A ‡ or Ω symbol
considered for:
These lots have been imported from outside the EU to be sold at auction under temporary importation. Property subject to temporary importation will be offered
• VAT charged on the buyer’s premium on property sold under the normal
under the Auctioneer’s Margin Scheme and will be subject to import VAT of either 5%
VAT rules.
or 15% on the hammer price and an amount in lieu of VAT at 15% on the buyer’s premium. Anyone who wishes to buy outside the Auctioneer’s Margin Scheme should
• Import VAT charged on the hammer price and buyer’s premium for lots
notify the Client Accounting Department before the sale.
sold under temporary importation.
‡ = 5%
Ω = 15%
Claim forms are available from: HM Revenue and Customs
5 exPorTs from The euroPeAn union
VAT Overseas Repayment Section
The following types of VAT may be cancelled or refunded by Phillips de Pury &
P.O. Box 34, Foyle House, Duncreggan Road, Londonderry
Company on exports made within three months of the sale date if strict conditions
Northern Ireland BT48 7AE
are met:
Tel +44 28 7130 5100 Fax +44 28 7130 5101 • The amount in lieu of VAT charged on the buyer’s premium for property sold under the Auctioneer’s Margin Scheme (i.e., without a VAT symbol).
7 sAles And use TAxes Buyers from outside the UK should note that local sales taxes or use taxes may
• The VAT on the hammer price for property sold under the normal VAT
become payable upon import of lots following purchase. Buyers should consult their
rules (i.e., with a † or a § symbol).
own tax advisors.
• The import VAT charged on the hammer price and buyer’s premium for property sold under temporary importation (i.e., with a ‡ or a Ω symbol).
CondiTions of sAle In each of the above examples, where the appropriate conditions are satisfied, no VAT will be charged if, at or before the time of invoicing, the buyer instructs Phillips de
The Conditions of Sale and Authorship Warranty set forth below govern the
Pury & Company to export the property from the EU. If such instruction is received
relationship between bidders and buyers, on the one hand, and Phillips de Pury &
after payment, a refund of the VAT amount will be made.
Company and sellers, on the other hand. All prospective buyers should read these Conditions of Sale and Authorship Warranty carefully before bidding.
08_LON_OCT_CONT Backmatter.indd 360
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PHOTOGRAPHS AUCTION 14 NOVEMBER 2009 10am & 1pm Viewing 7 – 13 November
NEW YORK
Phillips de Pury & Company 450 West 15 Street New York 10011 Enquiries +1 212 940 1245 Catalogues +1 212 940 1240 / +44 20 7318 4039 www.phillipsdepury.com
ALBERT WATSON Breaunna on Leopard Print, Las Vegas Hilton, 2001 Estimate $18,000-22,000
08_LON_OCT_CONT Backmatter.indd 361
24/09/09 11:47
1 IntroductIon
bidding, supplying such information and references as required by Phillips de Pury
Each lot in this catalogue is offered for sale and sold subject to: (a) the Conditions of
& Company.
Sale and Authorship Warranty; (b) additional notices and terms printed in other places in this catalogue, including the Guide for Prospective Buyers, and (c) supplements to
(b) As a convenience to bidders who cannot attend the auction in person, Phillips de
this catalogue or other written material posted by Phillips de Pury & Company in the
Pury & Company may, if so instructed by the bidder, execute written absentee bids on
saleroom, in each case as amended by any addendum or announcement by the
a bidder’s behalf. Absentee bidders are required to submit bids on the “Absentee Bid
auctioneer prior to the auction.
Form,” a copy of which is printed in this catalogue or otherwise available from Phillips de Pury & Company. Bids must be placed in the currency of the sale. The bidder must
By bidding at the auction, whether in person, through an agent, by written bid, by
clearly indicate the maximum amount he or she intends to bid, excluding the buyer’s
telephone bid or other means, bidders and buyers agree to be bound by these
premium and value added tax (VAT). The auctioneer will not accept an instruction to
Conditions of Sale, as so changed or supplemented, and Authorship Warranty.
execute an absentee bid which does not indicate such maximum bid. Our staff will attempt to execute an absentee bid at the lowest possible price taking into account
These Conditions of Sale, as so changed or supplemented, and Authorship Warranty
the reserve and other bidders. Any absentee bid must be received at least 24 hours
contain all the terms on which Phillips de Pury & Company and the seller contract with
in advance of the sale. In the event of identical bids, the earliest bid received will
the buyer.
take precedence.
2 PhIllIPs de Pury & comPany as agent
(c) Telephone bidders are required to submit bids on the “Telephone Bid Form,” a copy
Phillips de Pury & Company acts as an agent for the seller, unless otherwise indicated
of which is printed in this catalogue or otherwise available from Phillips de Pury &
in this catalogue or at the time of auction. On occasion, Phillips de Pury & Company
Company. Telephone bidding is available for lots whose low pre-sale estimate is at
may own a lot, in which case we will act in a principal capacity as a consignor, or may
least £500. Phillips de Pury & Company reserves the right to require written
have a legal, beneficial or financial interest in a lot as a secured creditor or otherwise.
confirmation of a successful bid from a telephone bidder by fax or otherwise immediately after such bid is accepted by the auctioneer. Telephone bids may be
3 catalogue descrIPtIons and condItIon of ProPerty
recorded and, by bidding on the telephone, a bidder consents to the recording of
Lots are sold subject to the Authorship Warranty, as described in the catalogue
the conversation.
(unless such description is changed or supplemented, as provided in Paragraph 1 above) and in the condition that they are in at the time of the sale on the
(d) When making a bid, whether in person, by absentee bid or on the telephone, a
following basis.
bidder accepts personal liability to pay the purchase price, as described more fully in Paragraph 6 (a) below, plus all other applicable charges unless it has been explicitly
(a) The knowledge of Phillips de Pury & Company in relation to each lot is partially
agreed in writing with Phillips de Pury & Company before the commencement of the
dependent on information provided to us by the seller, and Phillips de Pury & Company
auction that the bidder is acting as agent on behalf of an identified third party
is not able to and does not carry out exhaustive due diligence on each lot. Prospective
acceptable to Phillips de Pury & Company and that we will only look to the principal for
buyers acknowledge this fact and accept responsibility for carrying out inspections
such payment.
and investigations to satisfy themselves as to the lots in which they may be interested. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we shall exercise such reasonable care when making
(e) Arranging absentee and telephone bids is a free service provided by Phillips de
express statements in catalogue descriptions or condition reports as is consistent
Pury & Company to prospective buyers. While we undertake to exercise reasonable
with our role as auctioneer of lots in this sale and in light of (i) the information
care in undertaking such activity, we cannot accept liability for failure to execute such
provided to us by the seller, (ii) scholarship and technical knowledge and (iii) the
bids except where such failure is caused by our willful misconduct.
generally accepted opinions of relevant experts, in each case at the time any such express statement is made.
(f) Employees of Phillips de Pury & Company and our affiliated companies, including the auctioneer, may bid at the auction by placing absentee bids so long as they do not
(b) Each lot offered for sale at Phillips de Pury & Company is available for inspection
know the reserve when submitting their absentee bids and otherwise comply with our
by prospective buyers prior to the auction. Phillips de Pury & Company accepts bids
employee bidding procedures.
on lots on the basis that bidders (and independent experts on their behalf, to the extent appropriate given the nature and value of the lot and the bidder’s own expertise)
5 conduct of the auction
have fully inspected the lot prior to bidding and have satisfied themselves as to both
(a) Unless otherwise indicated by the symbol • each lot is offered subject to a reserve,
the condition of the lot and the accuracy of its description.
which is the confidential minimum selling price agreed by Phillips de Pury & Company
(c) Prospective buyers acknowledge that many lots are of an age and type which means that they are not in perfect condition. As a courtesy to clients, Phillips de Pury & Company may prepare and provide condition reports to assist prospective buyers when they are inspecting lots. Catalogue descriptions and condition reports may make reference to particular imperfections of a lot, but bidders should note that lots may have other faults not expressly referred to in the catalogue or condition report. All dimensions are approximate. Illustrations are for identification purposes only and cannot be used as precise indications of size or to convey full information as to the actual condition of lots.
(d) Information provided to prospective buyers in respect of any lot, including any pre-sale estimate, whether written or oral, and information in any catalogue, condition or other report, commentary or valuation, is not a representation of fact but rather a statement of opinion held by Phillips de Pury & Company. Any pre-sale estimate may not be relied on as a prediction of the selling price or value of the lot and may be revised from time to time by Phillips de Pury & Company in our absolute discretion. Neither Phillips de Pury & Company nor any of our affiliated companies shall be liable for any difference between the pre-sale estimates for any lot and the actual price achieved at auction or upon resale.
4 BIddIng at auctIon (a) Phillips de Pury & Company has absolute discretion to refuse admission to the auction or participation in the sale. All bidders must register for a paddle prior to
08_LON_OCT_CONT Backmatter.indd 362
24/09/09 11:48
with the seller. The reserve will not exceed the low pre-sale estimate at the time of
Bank of Scotland
the auction.
Gordon Street, Glasgow G1 3RS. SWIFT BIC: BOFSGB21138
(b)The auctioneer has discretion at any time to refuse any bid, withdraw any lot,
Sort code: 80-54-01
re-offer a lot for sale (including after the fall of the hammer) if he or she believes
IBAN: GB36BOFS 8054 0100 4407 80
there may be error or dispute and take such other action as he or she deems
For the account of PDEPL LTD
reasonably appropriate.
Account no.: 00440780
(c) The auctioneer will commence and advance the bidding at levels and in increments
(e) As a courtesy to clients, Phillips de Pury & Company will accept Visa, Mastercard
he or she considers appropriate. In order to protect the reserve on any lot, the
and UK-issued debit cards to pay for invoices of £50,000 or less. A processing fee
auctioneer may place one or more bids on behalf of the seller up to the reserve without
will apply.
indicating he or she is doing so, either by placing consecutive bids or bids in response to other bidders.
(f) Title in a purchased lot will not pass until Phillips de Pury & Company has received the Purchase Price for that lot in cleared funds. Phillips de Pury & Company is not
(d) The sale will be conducted in pounds sterling and payment is due in pounds
obliged to release a lot to the buyer until title in the lot has passed and appropriate
sterling. For the benefit of international clients, pre-sale estimates in the auction
identification has been provided, and any earlier release does not affect the passing of
catalogue may be shown in US dollars and/or euros and, if so, will reflect approximate
title or the buyer’s unconditional obligation to pay the Purchase Price.
exchange rates. Accordingly, estimates in US dollars or euros should be treated only
7 collection of ProPerty
as a guide.
(a) Phillips de Pury & Company will not release a lot to the buyer until we have received payment of its Purchase Price in full in cleared funds, the buyer has paid all
(e) Subject to the auctioneer’s reasonable discretion, the highest bidder accepted by
outstanding amounts due to Phillips de Pury & Company or any of our affiliated
the auctioneer will be the buyer and the striking of the hammer marks the acceptance
companies, including any charges payable pursuant to Paragraph 8 (a) below, and the
of the highest bid and the conclusion of a contract for sale between the seller and the
buyer has satisfied such other terms as we in our sole discretion shall require,
buyer. Risk and responsibility for the lot passes to the buyer as set forth in Paragraph
including completing any anti-money laundering or anti-terrorism financing checks. As
7 below.
soon as a buyer has satisfied all of the foregoing conditions, he or she should contact
(f) If a lot is not sold, the auctioneer will announce that it has been “passed,”
property.
us at +44 (0) 207 318 4081 or +44 (0) 207 318 4082 to arrange for collection of purchased
“withdrawn,” “returned to owner” or “bought-in.” (b) The buyer must arrange for collection of a purchased lot within five days of the date (g) Any post-auction sale of lots offered at auction shall incorporate these Conditions
of the auction. Promptly after the auction, we will transfer the purchased lot to a third
of Sale and Authorship Warranty as if sold in the auction.
party storage facility and will so advise the buyer. Purchased lots are at the buyer’s risk, including the responsibility for insurance, from the earlier to occur of (i) the date
6 Purchase Price and Payment
of collection or (ii) five days after the auction. Until risk passes, Phillips de Pury &
(a) The buyer agrees to pay us, in addition to the hammer price of the lot, the buyer’s
Company will compensate the buyer for any loss or damage to a purchased lot up to a
premium, plus any applicable value added tax (VAT) and any applicable resale royalty
maximum of the Purchase Price paid, subject to our usual exclusions for loss or
(the “Purchase Price”). The buyer’s premium is 25% of the hammer price up to and
damage to property.
including £25,000, 20% of the portion of the hammer price above £25,000 up to and including £500,000 and 12% of the portion of the hammer price above £500,000.
(c) As a courtesy to clients, Phillips de Pury & Company will, without charge, wrap purchased lots for hand carry only. We do not provide packing, handling, insurance or
(b) VAT is payable in accordance with applicable law. All prices, fees, charges and
shipping services. We will coordinate with shipping agents instructed by the buyer,
expenses set out in these Conditions of Sale are quoted exclusive of VAT.
whether or not recommended by Phillips de Pury & Company, in order to facilitate the packing, handling, insurance and shipping of property bought at Phillips de Pury &
(c) If the Artist’s Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to the lot, the buyer agrees to
Company. Any such instruction is entirely at the buyer’s risk and responsibility, and we
pay to us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those regulations and
will not be liable for acts or omissions of third party packers or shippers.
we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist’s collection agent. Lots subject to the Artist’s Resale Right are identified with the symbol ♠ next to the lot
(d) Phillips de Pury & Company will require presentation of government issued
number.
identification prior to release of a lot to the buyer or the buyer’s authorized representative.
(d) Unless otherwise agreed, a buyer is required to pay for a purchased lot immediately following the auction regardless of any intention to obtain an export or
8 failure to collect Purchases
import license or other permit for such lot. Payments must be made by the
(a) If the buyer pays the Purchase Price but fails to collect a purchased lot within 30
invoiced party in pounds sterling either by cash, cheque drawn on a uK bank or
days of the auction, the buyer will incur a late collection fee of £25, storage charges of
wire transfer, as follows:
£3 per day and pro rated insurance charges of .1% of the Purchase Price per month on each uncollected lot.
(i) Phillips de Pury & Company will accept payment in cash provided that the total amount paid in cash or cash equivalents does not exceed the local
(b) If a purchased lot is paid for but not collected within six months of the auction, the
currency equivalent of US$10,000.
buyer authorizes Phillips de Pury & Company, upon notice, to arrange a resale of the item by auction or private sale, with estimates and a reserve set at Phillips de Pury &
(ii) Personal cheques and banker’s drafts are accepted if drawn on a UK
Company’s reasonable discretion. The proceeds of such sale will be applied to pay for
bank and the buyer provides to us acceptable government issued
storage charges and any other outstanding costs and expenses owed by the buyer to
identification. Cheques and banker’s drafts should be made payable to
Phillips de Pury & Company or our affiliated companies and the remainder will be
“PDEPL LTD.” If payment is sent by post, please send the cheque or
forfeited unless collected by the buyer within two years of the original auction.
banker’s draft to the attention of the Client Accounting Department at Howick Place, London SW1P 1BB and ensure that the sale number is
9 remedies for non-Payment
written on the cheque. Cheques or banker’s drafts drawn by third parties
(a) Without prejudice to any rights the seller may have, if the buyer without prior
will not be accepted.
agreement fails to make payment of the Purchase Price for a lot in cleared funds within five days of the auction, Phillips de Pury & Company may in our sole discretion
(iii) Payment by wire transfer may be sent directly to Phillips de Pury &
exercise one or more of the following remedies: (i) store the lot at Phillips de Pury &
Company. Bank transfer details:
08_LON_OCT_CONT Backmatter.indd 363
24/09/09 11:48
Company’s premises or elsewhere at the buyer’s sole risk and expense; (ii) cancel the
10 Rescission by PhilliPs de PuRy & comPany
sale of the lot, retaining any partial payment of the Purchase Price as liquidated
Phillips de Pury & Company shall have the right, but not the obligation, to rescind a
damages; (iii) reject future bids from the buyer or render such bids subject to payment
sale without notice to the buyer if we reasonably believe that there is a material breach
of a deposit; (iv) charge interest at 12% per annum from the date payment became due
of the seller’s representations and warranties or the Authorship Warranty or an
until the date the Purchase Price is received in cleared funds; (v) subject to
adverse claim is made by a third party. Upon notice of Phillips de Pury & Company’s
notification of the buyer, exercise a lien over any of the buyer’s property which is in the
election to rescind the sale, the buyer will promptly return the lot to Phillips de Pury &
possession of Phillips de Pury & Company and instruct our affiliated companies to
Company, and we will then refund the Purchase Price paid to us. As described more
exercise a lien over any of the buyer’s property which is in their possession and, in
fully in Paragraph 13 below, the refund shall constitute the sole remedy and recourse
each case, no earlier than 30 days from the date of such notice arrange the sale of
of the buyer against Phillips de Pury & Company and the seller with respect to such
such property and apply the proceeds to the amount owed to Phillips de Pury &
rescinded sale.
Company or any of our affiliated companies after the deduction from sale proceeds of our standard vendor’s commission, all sale-related expenses and any applicable taxes
11 exPoRt, imPoRt and endangeRed sPecies licenses
thereon; (vi) resell the lot by auction or private sale, with estimates and a reserve set
and PeRmits
at Phillips de Pury & Company’s reasonable discretion, it being understood that in the
Before bidding for any property, prospective buyers are advised to make their own
event such resale is for less than the original hammer price and buyer’s premium for
enquiries as to whether a license is required to export a lot from the United Kingdom
that lot, the buyer will remain liable for the shortfall together with all costs incurred in
or to import it into another country. Prospective buyers are advised that some
such resale; (vii) commence legal proceedings to recover the hammer price and
countries prohibit the import of property made of or incorporating plant or animal
buyer’s premium for that lot, together with interest and the costs of such proceedings;
material, such as coral, crocodile, ivory, whalebone, rhinoceros horn or tortoiseshell,
or (viii) release the name and address of the buyer to the seller to enable the seller to
irrespective of age, percentage or value. Accordingly, prior to bidding, prospective
commence legal proceedings to recover the amounts due and legal costs.
buyers considering export of purchased lots should familiarize themselves with relevant export and import regulations of the countries concerned. It is solely the
(b) The buyer irrevocably authorizes Phillips de Pury & Company to exercise a lien over
buyer’s responsibility to comply with these laws and to obtain any necessary export,
the buyer’s property which is in our possession upon notification by any of our
import and endangered species licenses or permits. Failure to obtain a license or
affiliated companies that the buyer is in default of payment. Phillips de Pury &
permit or delay in so doing will not justify the cancellation of the sale or any delay in
Company will notify the buyer of any such lien. The buyer also irrevocably authorizes
making full payment for the lot.
Phillips de Pury & Company, upon notification by any of our affiliated companies that the buyer is in default of payment, to pledge the buyer’s property in our possession by
12 data PRotection
actual or constructive delivery to our affiliated company as security for the payment of
(a) In connection with the management and operation of our business and the
any outstanding amount due. Phillips de Pury & Company will notify the buyer if the
marketing and supply of auction related services, or as required by law, we may ask
buyer’s property has been delivered to an affiliated company by way of pledge.
clients to provide personal information about themselves or obtain information about clients from third parties (e.g., credit information). If clients provide us with
(c) If the buyer is in default of payment, the buyer irrevocably authorizes Phillips de
information that is defined by law as “sensitive,” they agree that Phillips de Pury &
Pury & Company to instruct any of our affiliated companies in possession of the
Company and our affiliated companies may use it for the above purposes. Phillips de
buyer’s property to deliver the property by way of pledge as the buyer’s agent to a third
Pury & Company and our affiliated companies will not use or process sensitive
party instructed by Phillips de Pury & Company to hold the property on our behalf as
information for any other purpose without the client’s express consent. If you would
security for the payment of the Purchase Price and any other amount due and, no
like further information on our policies on personal data or wish to make corrections
earlier than 30 days from the date of written notice to the buyer, to sell the property in
to your information, please contact us at +44 (0)20 7318 4010. If you would prefer not to
such manner and for such consideration as can reasonably be obtained on a forced
receive details of future events please call the above number.
sale basis and to apply the proceeds to any amount owed to Phillips de Pury & Company or any of our affiliated companies after the deduction from sale proceeds
(b) In order to fulfill the services clients have requested, Phillips de Pury & Company
of our standard vendor’s commission, all sale-related expenses and any applicable
may disclose information to third parties such as shippers. Some countries do not
taxes thereon.
offer equivalent legal protection of personal information to that offered within the European Union (EU). It is Phillips de Pury & Company’s policy to require that any such third parties respect the privacy and confidentiality of our clients’ information and provide the same level of protection for client information as provided within the EU, whether or not they are located in a country that offers equivalent legal protection of personal information. By agreeing to these Conditions of Sale, clients agree to such disclosure.
13 limitation of liability (a) Subject to subparagraph (e) below, the total liability of Phillips de Pury & Company, our affiliated companies and the seller to the buyer in connection with the sale of a lot shall be limited to the Purchase Price actually paid by the buyer for the lot.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this Paragraph 13, none of Phillips de Pury & Company, any of our affiliated companies or the seller (i) is liable for any errors or omissions, whether orally or in writing, in information provided to prospective buyers by Phillips de Pury & Company or any of our affiliated companies or (ii) accepts responsibility to any bidder in respect of acts or omissions, whether negligent or otherwise, by Phillips de Pury & Company or any of our affiliated companies in connection with the conduct of the auction or for any other matter relating to the sale of any lot.
(c) All warranties other than the Authorship Warranty, express or implied, including any warranty of satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose, are specifically excluded by Phillips de Pury & Company, our affiliated companies and the seller to the fullest extent permitted by law.
(d) Subject to subparagraph (e) below, none of Phillips de Pury & Company, any of our affiliated companies or the seller shall be liable to the buyer for any loss or damage
08_LON_OCT_CONT Backmatter.indd 364
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phILLIpS de puRy & COmpany
Chairman
Senior partners
advisory Board
Simon de Pury
Michael McGinnis
Maria Bell
Dr. Michaela Neumeister
Janna Bullock
Chief Executive OfďŹ cer
Lisa Eisner
Bernd Runge
partners
Lapo Elkann
Aileen Agopian
Ben Elliot
Sean Cleary
Lady Elena Foster
Alexander Payne
H.I.H. Francesca von Habsburg
Rodman Primack
Marc Jacobs
Olivier Vrankenne
Malcolm McLaren
Tiffany Wood
Ernest Mourmans Aby Rosen Christiane zu Salm Princess Gloria vonThurn undTaxis Jean Michel Wilmotte Anita Zabludowicz
WORLDWIDE OFFICES NEW YORK
PARIS
BERLIN
450 West 15 Street NewYork NY 10011 USA
C/O Pro First 15 Rue de la Paix 75002 Paris France
Auguststrasse 19 10117 Berlin Germany
+1 212 940 1200 +1 212 924 5403 fax
+33 1 42 78 67 77 +33 1 42 78 23 07 fax
+49 30 880 018 42 +49 30 880 018 43 fax
LONDON
MUNICH
GENEVA
Howick Place London SW1P 1BB United Kingdom
Maximiliansplatz 12a 80333 Munich Germany
23, quai des Bergues 1201 Geneva Switzerland
+44 20 7318 4010 +44 20 7318 4011 fax
+49 89 238 88 48 0 +49 89 238 88 48 15 fax
+41 22 906 80 00 +41 22 906 80 01 fax
08_LON_OCT_CONT Backmatter.indd 365
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SPECIALIST AND SERVICE DEPARTMENTS
CONTEMPORARY ART LONDON
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY EDITIONS NEW YORK
Anthony McNerney, Head of Evening Sale, London
+44 20 7318 4067
Kelly Troester, Worldwide Co-Director
+1 212 940 1221
Peter Sumner, Head of Day Sale, London
+44 20 7318 4063
Cary Leibowitz, Worldwide Co-Director
+1 212 940 1222
Laetitia Catoir
+44 20 7318 4064
Jannah Greenblatt
+1 212 940 1332
Silke Taprogge
+44 20 7318 4012
Joy Deibert
+1 212 940 1333
Ivgenia Naiman
+44 20 7318 4071
Fiona Biberstein
+44 20 7318 4013
JEWELRY
Siobhan O’Connor
+44 20 7318 4093
NEW YORK
Catherine Higgs
+44 20 7318 4089
Nazgol Jahan, Worldwide Director
+1 212 940 1283
Raphael Lepine
+44 20 7318 4078
Carmela Manoli
+1 212 940 1302
Tanya Tikhnenko
+44 20 7318 4065
Heather Zises
+1 212 940 1290
Sarah Buchwald
+44 20 7318 4085
Phillippa Willison
+44 20 7318 4070
NEW YORK Michael McGinnis, Worldwide Director
+1 212 940 1254
Aileen Agopian, New York Director
+1 212 940 1255
Jean-Michel Placent
+1 212 940 1263
GENEVA Carolin Bulgari
+41 22 906 80 00
Veronica Lota
+41 22 906 80 05
LONDON Lane McLean
+44 20 7318 4032
Timothy Malyk
+1 212 940 1258
Chin-Chin Yap
+1 212 940 1250
Sarah Mudge, Head of Part II, New York
+1 212 940 1259
Roxana Bruno
+1 212 940 1229
Sara Davidson
+1 212 940 1262
Tobias Sirtl, London Manager
+44 20 7318 4095
Maria Bueno
+1 212 940 1261
Arianna Jacobs
+44 20 7318 4054
Peter Flores
+1 212 940 1223
George O’Dell
+44 20 7318 4040
(Uli) Zhiheng Huang
+1 212 940 1288
Eugenia Ballvé
+1 212 940 1303
DESIGN
THEME SALES Tiffany Wood, Worldwide Director
+49 30 880 018 42
LONDON
NEW YORK Corey Barr, New York Manager
+1 212 940 1234
Anne Huntington
+1 212 940 1210
Steve Agin, Consultant
+1 908 475 1796
LONDON Alexander Payne, Worldwide Director
+44 20 7318 4052
Ben Williams
+44 20 7318 4027
Domenico Raimondo
+44 20 7318 4016
Ellen Stelter
+44 20 7318 4021
Marcus McDonald
+44 20 7318 4014
NEW YORK Alex Heminway, New York Director
+1 212 940 1269
Marcus Tremonto
+1 212 940 1268
Tara DeWitt
+1 212 940 1265
Meaghan Roddy
+1 212 940 1266
Stephanie Abraitis
+1 212 940 1268
CHAIRMAN LONDON Rodman Primack
+44 20 7318 4017
MANAGING DIRECTORS Finn Dombernowsky, London Charlie Horne, New York
+44 20 7318 4034 +1 212 940 1292
PRIVATE SALES Christina Scheublein
+1 212 940 1248
PARIS Johanna Frydman
+33 1 42 78 67 77
PHOTOGRAPHS LONDON
Berlin & Munich Dr. Michaela Neumeister
+49 89 238 88 48 10
Lou Proud
+44 20 7318 4018
Brussels & Paris Olivier Vrankenne
+32 486 43 43 44
Sebastien Montabonel
+44 20 7318 4025
Paris Leonie Moschner
+33 6 85 53 92 03
Alexandra Bibby
+44 20 7318 4087
London Ivgenia Naiman
+44 20 7318 4071
Helen Hayman
+44 20 7318 4092
Brooke de Ocampo
+44 777 551 7060
NEW YORK Vanessa Kramer, New York Director Shlomi Rabi
+1 212 940 1243 + 1 212 940 1246
Los Angeles Mimi Won Techentin
+1 310 600 9192
Maya McLaughlin
+1 323 791 1771
Milan Laura Garbarino
+39 339 478 9671
Caroline Shea
+1 212 940 1247
Eugenia Bertelè
+39 02 3669 5895
Sarah Krueger
+1 212 940 1245
Moscow Svetlana Marich
+7 495 225 88 22
Charlie Scheips, International Consulting Director
08_LON_OCT_CONT Backmatter.indd 366
INTERNATIONAL SPECIALISTS AND REPRESENTATIVES
+ 1 212 940 1245
Shanghai/Beijing Jeremy Wingfield
+86 135 0118 2804
24/09/09 11:49
SALe inFormAtion
Auction Day sale, Saturday 17 October 2009 at 3pm Evening sale, Saturday 17 October 2009 at 7pm
operAtionS mAnAgerS Ross Martin +44 20 7318 4057 Jeffrey Rausch, New York +1 212 940 1367
Viewing Saturday 10 October 10am – 6pm Sunday 11 October 12pm – 6pm Monday 12 October – Friday 16 October 10am – 6pm Saturday 17 October 10am – 12pm
Catalogues Allyson Melchor + 44 20 7318 4039 + 1 212 940 1240 Catalogues £30 at the Gallery/$60 catalogues@phillipsdepury.com
Viewing & Auction LocAtion Howick Place London SW1P 1BB
AbSentee AnD teLephone biDS Anna Ho +44 20 7318 4045 +44 20 7318 4035 fax bids@phillipsdepury.com
SALe DeSignAtion In sending in written bids or making enquiries please refer to these sales as UK010509 or Contemporary Art Evening Sale and UK010609 or Contemporary Art Day Sale.
buyerS AccountS Carolyn Whitehead +44 20 7318 4020
worLDwiDe Director Michael McGinnis New York +1 212 940 1254
cLient SerViceS Brette Kameny +44 20 7318 4010
Director Aileen Agopian New York +1 212 940 1255
photogrAphy Byron Slater, Peter Hepplewhite, Kent Pell
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ADminiStrAtorS Siobhan O’Connor +44 20 7318 4093 Sarah Buchwald +44 20 7318 4085 Phillippa Willison +44 20 7318 4070 VALuAtionS mAnAger Catherine Higgs +44 20 7318 4089
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Cataloguers Raphael Lepine +44 20 7318 4078 Tanya Tikhnenko +44 20 7318 4065 Henry Highley +44 20 7318 4065
GREEN PARK
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SpeciALiStS Anthony McNerney, Head of Evening Sale, London +44 20 7318 4067 Peter Sumner, Head of Day Sale, London +44 20 7318 4063 Laetitia Catoir +44 20 7318 4064 Silke Taprogge +44 20 7318 4012 Ivgenia Naiman +44 20 7318 4071 Fiona Biberstein +44 20 7318 4013 Jean-Michel Placent +1 212 940 1263 Timothy Malyk +1 212 940 1258 Chin-Chin Yap +1 212 940 1250 Sarah Mudge, Head of Part II, New York +1 212 940 1259 Dr Micheala Neumeister +49 89 238 88 48 10 Olivier Vrankenne +32 486 43 43 44 Leonie Moschner +33 6 85 53 92 03 Brooke de Ocampo +44 777 551 7060 Mimi Won Techentin +1 310 660 9192 Maya McLaughlin +1 323 791 1771 Laura Garbarino +39 339 478 9671 Jeremy Wingfield +86 135 0118 2804
SeLLer AccountS Elliot Depree +44 20 7318 4072
Va uX
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Front cover Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, 1958-1960, Lot 30 (detail) title page Jean-Michel Basquiat, Year of the Boar, 1983, Lot 12 (detail) Frontispiece Martin Kippenberger, Big Until Great Hunger, 1984, Lot 6 (detail) Back Cover Jim Hodges, The Good News (De Morgen), 2006, Lot 3 (detail)
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