Carl Corey - Photographs London Tuesday, November 22, 2022 | Phillips

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  • “The word ‘luck’ has many connotations ... good luck, bad luck, plenty of luck, no luck, out of luck. I was intrigued by this ambiguity of the word ‘luck’ and what that may mean for the community that carries the name Luck.”
    —Carl Corey

    Wisconsin-based artist Carl Corey’s (b.1954) oeuvre is characterised by graphic simplicity, playful humour and a keen interest in documenting ‘Man Made America’ of the Midwest. For the present work from Habitat, a series of cultural topographies, he travelled to the village of Luck in Wisconsin to photograph its town sign against an empty night landscape. ‘I wanted to visit the area on a summer night to allow for the ambient light on the sign and the distant water tower,’ Corey explains. ‘The night isolates all surroundings and allows for the best interpretation regarding my intentions with the photograph.’ For him, ‘“luck” is somewhat a metaphor for small town America’ and he uses the vivid green of the lawn contrasted with the bold red text to drive the viewer’s experience. Here, with his sleek yet offbeat style, the artist presents an ambiguous tableau, unoccupied by people, that provides no fixed or clear meaning. Corey has exhibited widely, published four photobooks and received numerous awards, notably a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019. His work is held at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Wisconsin, the New York Public Library Photography Collection and the Princeton University Art Museum, among others.

ULTIMATE

55

2412 • Luck, Wisconsin from Habitat

2008
Archival pigment print, mounted.
Image: 101.5 x 101.5 cm (39 7/8 x 39 7/8 in.)
Frame: 111.8 x 111.8 cm (44 x 44 in.)

Signed in ink, printed title, date and number AP1/2 on a Certificate of Authenticity accompanying the work.

This work is AP1 from the sold-out edition of 20 + 2 APs. This image is sold out in all sizes.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for £12,600

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London Auction 22 November 2022