Ryan McGinness - Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York Thursday, March 4, 2010 | Phillips

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  • Provenance


    Deitch Projects, New York

  • Literature


    L. Beatrice, “I Trionfi Barocchi di Ryan McGinness,” Arte Pittura, October 2006, p. 83 (illustrated); L. Bradbury, “Transgressive Beauty,” Arkitip Magazine, Issue No. 48, 2008, p. 2; Royal Academy of Arts, ed., USA Today, London, 2006, p. 242 (illustrated); J. Shumacher, ed., Ryan McGinness: Works., New York, 2009, p. 185 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay


    "The arabesque “black hole” paintings—reminiscent of the interlaced configurations of classical Islamic design—draw you in with their beautiful spiraling geometric patterns. The artist’s true intent is subtly revealed in the title of the first work, An(n)us Mirabilis, 2006. It translates from the Latin as a year notable for disasters or wonders and McGinness uses it to refer to Albert Einstein’s Annus Mirabilis Papers, where the scientist laid out some of the founding principles for space, time, and matter, which would give rise to our understanding of black holes. According to McGinness, however, the paintings “are really rainbow colored assholes.” As a viewer you can stay on the surface of McGinness’ work or delve into the worlds within worlds that he presents. Surreal scale shifts simulate the psychedelic experience and reveal the true fractal-based model of the universe. The pattern, color and shapes are tantalizing enough to hold one’s attention. Once satiated you can delve into the layers beneath the surface and discover symbols simultaneously familiar and foreign. You know the language, but you have never seen these words. Visually rich, the surface patterns stand in dramatic tension with the explicit content of many of the symbols. Underneath the populist vocabulary lies a critical message that comments on our consumer obsessed, media-crazed society," (L. Bradbury, ”Transgressive Beauty,” Arkitip Magazine, Issue No. 48, 2008, p. 2).

16

An(n)us Mirabilis

2006

Acrylic  on linen laid on board.

96 x 96 in. (243.8 x 243.8 cm).
Signed, titled and dated “Ryan McGinness ‘An(n)us Mirabilis’ 2006” on the reverse.

Estimate
$50,000 - 70,000 

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

4 Mar 2010
New York