Provenance
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Exhibited
New York, Gagosian Gallery, Potty Mouth Potty War Pot Roast Pot Is a Reality Kick, 2006
Catalogue Essay
At just 31 years of age, Dan Colen is the current favourite of the contemporary art scene. His recent major exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in New York was the most talked about show of the year – in fact, Colen has been one of the most talked about artists of the last five years. Along with Nate Lowman, Ryan McGinley and the late Dash Snow, he rejuvenated the New York art scene with his debauched and wild hard-partying antics. His work is as controversial as his lifestyle is, often incorporating swear words, representing faeces and generally displaying a teenage insouciance.
The present lot is an early work in which Colen defaces a found canvas of a Walt Disney-like scene in which a young girl sobs in the arms of a bear. Below the scene, which Colen has altered to look hallucinatory like, a lingering trail of smoke from snuffed candles curl into the phrase ‘Wouldn't it be nice', the painting's title and a reference to the uplifting song by The Beach Boys. Suggesting ephemerality and transience, the tableau becomes however a paradox between the naïveté and innocence of the touching moment and the subversive implication of a tongue-in-cheek phrase written out in smoke.
Artist Biography
Dan Colen
American • 1979
American artist Dan Colen has spent most of his career asking himself questions about the editorial decisions artists have to make when creating a scene from scratch on canvas. In his early work, Colen painted mundane interiors punctuated with fantastical elements. This manifested as part of a growing curiosity in the ethereal or divine intervention.
Colen subsequently stepped away from paint as material and started using found objects as mediums with which to paint. Among these, Colen has used chewing gum, street trash, confetti, feathers, flowers and dirt. This methodology allows Colen to abandon control and create in a more free-form, subconscious manner.
View More Works

28

Dan Colen

Wouldn't it be Nice

2006
Acrylic and oil on found framed canvas.
48.3 x 36.8 cm (19 x 14 1/2 in).

Estimate
£20,000 - 30,000 †

Sold for £85,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011
London

1
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £213,650
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
2
Mary Heilmann
Rude Boy
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡
Sold for £103,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
3
Jim Lambie
Night Divides the Day
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £91,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
4
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attesa
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
5
Günther Uecker
Mutation
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £223,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
6
Robert Morris
Felt
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
7
Georg Herold
Untitled
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
8
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
9
Peter Fischli and David Weiss
4 Hostessen (4 Stewardesses)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £277,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
10
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £350,000 - 550,000 ‡♠
Sold for £337,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
11
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Overrun
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ‡
Sold for £1,127,650
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
12
Raqib Shaw
Absence of God III... And His Tears of Blood Will Drown the Cities of Men II
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £553,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
13
Anselm Reyle
Harmony
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
14
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 100,000 ♠
Sold for £79,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
15
Subodh Gupta
No. 1
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
Sold for £121,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
16
Donald Judd
Untitled (89-30)
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £169,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
17
Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov
The Painting on an Easel
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
18
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Ritratto sigg. Lerre (Portrait of Mr. Lerre)
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ♠
Sold for £67,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
19
Martin Kippenberger
Mirror for Hang-Over Bud
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
Sold for £145,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
20
Robert Rauschenberg
Address Unknown
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
21
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
22
Albert Oehlen
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ♠
Sold for £193,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
23
Karel Appel
Birds Over the Red Sea
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £205,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
24
Victor Vasarely
Cassiopée II NB
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £157,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
25
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Disco con Sfera
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠
Sold for £61,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
26
Bill Viola
Basin of Tears
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 Ω
Sold for £181,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
27
Marlene Dumas
Equality
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
28
Dan Colen
Wouldn't it be Nice
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 †
Sold for £85,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
29
Martin Creed
Work no. 230 (Don’t Worry)
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ♠
Sold for £51,650
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011 London

Create your first list.

Provenance

Exhibited

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Dan Colen

28

Dan Colen

Wouldn't it be Nice

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

17 Feb 2011
London