Ryan Sullivan - Contemporary Art Evening Sale London Wednesday, February 13, 2013 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Bugada & Cargnel, Paris

  • Exhibited

    Paris, Bugada & Cargnel, Were all stars to disappear or die… Nina Beier, Étienne Chambaud, Peggy Franck, Alex Hubbard, Pamela Rosenkranz, Ryan Sullivan, 18 November 2011–7 January 2012

  • Catalogue Essay

    Eschewing traditional conventions of picturemaking, American artist Ryan Sullivan turns the act of painting into an exquisite alchemical process. By combining a variety of paints, such as acrylic and oil, with less conventional materials like enamel and latex, he transforms the surface of each canvas into an expressive, abstract topography. Presented here is a large work which combines knowing references to the history of abstract painting with an evocative, unforced beauty. Executed in a rich but understated palette of black, turquoise and cream, the ripples and cracks that punctuate its surface evince a process comprising chance, gravity and self-expression in equal measure.

    Sullivan – who lives and works in New York City – takes daily inspiration from his casual encounters with the city’s ‘found’ abstraction: from a rusty car, to puckering tape, to the veins of a marble shop counter. Characteristically, the title of this work states the length of time Sullivan took to produce it, articulating notions of transience and mortality. By giving such titular prominence to the span of days necessary to complete a painting, the canvas becomes a record of its own making.

    Sullivan often displays such works in pendant pairs: the juxtaposition creates a visceral dialogue between the works’ physical appearance, while the titles allude to the more philosophical aspects of their creation. The present lot, July 24, 2011–September 28, 2011, once formed a diptych with another entitled May 13, 2011–June 4, 2011, exhibited at Bugada & Cargnel, Paris in 2011–12.

31

July 24, 2011 - September 28, 2011

2011
oil, enamel and latex on canvas
150 x 114.8 cm (59 x 45 1/4 in)

Estimate
£30,000 - 40,000 

Sold for £91,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

14 February 2013
London