Latin Highlights Nov 2014

PHILLIPS ANNOUNCES HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NEW YORK LATIN AMERICAN ART AUCTION

SALE HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE WORKS BY ADRIANA VAREJÃO, RUFINO TAMAYO, JAC LEIRNER, OS GÊMEOS, DIEGO RIVERA AND VIK MUNIZ

AUCTION TIME: 24 NOVEMBER 2014, 2PM
VIEWING: 17-24 NOVEMBER, 450 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10022
AUCTION LOCATION: 450 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK – 5 November 2014 – Phillips is pleased to announce highlights from the forthcoming Latin America Sale, featuring 122 lots with a low estimate of $6,211,000 / £3,886,770/ €4,974,590 and a high estimate of $8,634,000 / £5,404,864 / €6,904,355.

“We are thrilled to announce our upcoming auction of Latin American art. We have curated the sale with a focus on the highest quality works from the Modern and Contemporary eras, presenting fresh-to-market works from established, mid-career and emerging artists. Our sales are spaces for discovery, whether it’s a masterpiece by a renowned Modern artist or an exciting piece by a young artist from Latin America. Among our highlights, we are delighted to offer a monumental set of 6 canvases by Adriana Varejão from 2001, a powerfully expressive painting by Rufino Tamayo from 1942, and an important Jac Leirner installation from 1989, a crucial period in her career.” LAURA GONZÁLEZ, DIRECTOR OF LATIN AMERICAN ART, PHILLIPS.

Rufino Tamayo had been interested in the human figure since his training in Mexico in the 1920s, but by the 1940s, he was beginning to break the figure into fragments, looking more closely at space and the composition of the picture by focusing on geometry and color abstraction to heighten the intensity of the image. In addition to Cubism, these technical choices have ties to pre-Hispanic and popular art, which Tamayo saw repeatedly during his youth while working as chief draftsman at the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnografía in Mexico City. This painting is much more than simply a woman selling fruit in a local Mexican market; the figure has been reduced to a series of planes, and Tamayo has instilled an element of gender ambiguity by radically simplifying the body and removing inessential elements. For Tamayo, figuration and abstraction were not mutually exclusive, and he argued passionately in favor of continuing to produce figurative art through a modern lens.

Diego Rivera continued to be influenced by Cubism long after his return to Mexico. Although Rivera mainly painted portraits in his Cubist period, he did a few landscapes and still lifes, such as Naturaleza Muerta (Composición con Alcachofas y Limones), 1916. The present lot incorporates the different stylistic elements for which he became famous; a blend of “avant-garde practices, Pre-Hispanic sources, popular art and traditional academic paintings.” Conceived in the avant-garde Cubist style, this painting is imbued with Rivera’s signature brightly colored palette and the experimental textures from his Cubist period. Even though Rivera’s murals, as well as all of his post-European production, would later depict a style of realism, his figural style was suffused with geometric shapes and peculiar perspectives typical to Cubism. Ultimately, Rivera utilized Cubist strategies to consolidate his own, very complex brand of Realism that placed him at the forefront of International Modernism.

Nomes (Names), 1989, one of the most important works in Jac Leirner’s career. This installation is made up of numerous found plastic bags sewn together and stuffed with foam. Leirner’s early experiments with art confirmed her interest in the continual exploration of color in its own right, and in turn, led her to steer away from pictorial representation.

Leirner was deeply influenced by Brazilian Neoconcrete and Conceptual artists, as well as by American Minimalists. She began to study material, texture and form, allowing her to create complex installations, such as the present lot. These works reflect her intense interest in the literalism of Minimalism. Throughout her career, Leirner has constructed complex objects and installations that have greatly contributed to the contemporary history of Brazilian art, where an amalgamation of trivial ephemera is transformed into a conceptual work of art that is, at its core, a rigorous examination of form and color.

The best way to exemplify Varejão’s discourse is through her work, such as the present lot, Macau Wall (Blue), where she deconstructs the concept of Portuguese titles from the Colonial period and constructs her own pictorial and historical narrative in this installation: 6 monochromatic tiles made of layers of oil and plaster on canvas, ascribing importance to the representation of the material surface. This series of works exploring azulejos positioned Varejão at the forefront of contemporary artists, leading to numerous solo exhibitions at prestigious galleries and placing her work within the greater context of international contemporary art.

PHILLIPS:
As the only international auction house to concentrate exclusively on contemporary culture, Phillips has established a commanding position in the sale of Contemporary Art, Design, Photographs, Editions and Jewellery. Through the passionate dedication of its team of global specialists, the company has garnered an unparalleled wealth of knowledge of emerging market trends. Founded in London in 1796, Phillips conducts auctions in New York and London and has representative offices throughout Europe and in the United States. For more information, please visit: phillips.com.

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