Nate Lowman - Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale New York Thursday, March 6, 2014 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Maccarone, New York
    Private Collection

  • Catalogue Essay

    “It’s something you’ve probably looked at a hundred times, and then you say, ‘Oh, I’ve got to paint that thing,’ because it’s something that’s relevant to an idea that you’ve been having about life or love or something.” - Nate Lowman

    A controversial appropriationist reimagining the tradition of Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, young American artist Nate Lowman reinterprets the quotidian symbols that pervade contemporary popular culture. Highlighting the darker, more sinister side of ubiquitous popular imagery such as the familiar ‘smiley face’ and Warhol’s silkscreen renditions of Marilyn Monroe, Lowman delves beyond their surface symbolism, exploring the subversive nature of such mainstream iconography. In his Bullet Hole series, Lowman draws his inspiration from the most mundane of objects – the car bumper sticker – reappropriating the image to emphasize the simultaneous indifference toward and delinquency of pervasive violence in American culture. Explicitly referencing the absurdity of such apathy amid the undercurrents of violence infiltrating modern society, Lowman inflates these tromp-l’oeil motifs, recasting the Bullet Hole as revised emblem of Americana. Both serious critique of and witty commentary on the themes of violent subcultures, masculinity and urban aggression, Lowman’s Bullet Holes remind us of the ironic and menacing psychology behind mass appropriation in contemporary culture.

9

Mint

2005
silkscreen ink, acrylic on canvas, laid on panel
37 3/8 x 28 in. (95 x 71 cm.)

Estimate
$200,000 - 300,000 

Sold for $413,000

Contact Specialist
Zach Miner, Contemporary
Head of Sale zminer@phillips.com
+1 212 940 1256

Alex Heminway, Design
aheminway@phillips.com
+ 1 212 940 1268

Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale

New York Evening Sale 6 March 2014 7pm