John Currin - Contemporary Art Part I New York Thursday, May 15, 2008 | Phillips

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  • Provenance


    Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York; John Robertshaw, New York; Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York

  • Exhibited


    New York, Andrea Rosen Gallery, John Currin, January 21 - March 5, 1994; Limoges, France, Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain du Limousin, July 7 - September 30, 1995; and London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, December 7, 1995 - February 18, 1996, John Currin: Les Coopérateurs; New York, Cheim & Read, Couples, January 6 - March 4, 2000

  • Literature


    J. Decter, “Reviews: John Currin, Andrea Rosen Gallery,” Artforum, May 1994, p. 100 (illustrated); J. Decter, “Stupidity as Destiny: American Idiot Culture,” Flash Art, October 1994, p. 72 (illustrated); H. Papadopoulos, “John Currin,” Arti Athens, November - December 1994, p. 127 (illustrated); F. Paul, K. Seward, eds., John Currin: oeuvres/works, 1989-1995, Limoges, 1995, (p. 50); K. Vanderweg, ed., John Currin, New York, 2006, pp. 118-119 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay


    Classic structure is solidity. If you believe that life itself can follow certain structures then why wouldn’t you want to make your work that way? I’ve always liked things that pretend they’re sensationalistic entertainment yet have a hidden or deeper structure—something that’s absolutely mediocre but perfect, like a soft rock song that’s perfectly memorable, that has this incredibly long life and persistence, that’s so average but crystalline. It’s the pop ideal.
    I like the idea of trying to make a picture solid, keep it from changing, having the couple be an undynamic situation. Its almost a form of male hysteria to make everything solid, like the woman cleans and the man goes down into the basement woodshop to make another birdhouse. The categories are fixed. The man has to be authoritative and the woman subservient—the roles lend the painting solidity, even visual solidity. It’s painting the couple as Mont Sainte-Victoire: it will always be there just like mom and dad. John Currin in an interview with Keith Seward, “Boomerang,” John Currin: oeuvres/works, 1989-1995, Limoges, 1995, p. 45

127

Couple in Bed

1993

Oil on canvas.

40 x 32 1/4 in. (101.6 x 81.9 cm).

Signed and dated “Currin 93” on the overlap.

Estimate
$500,000 - 700,000 

Sold for $601,000

Contemporary Art Part I

15 May 2008, 7pm
New York