Christian Marclay - Photographs New York Tuesday, April 4, 2023 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • “Music is also at the center of a lot of things I do… because it’s such a strong way to communicate with people… It’s a universal language.”
    —Christian Marclay

    Christian Marclay’s dynamic synthesis of art, photography, appropriation and music is brilliantly evident in Body Mix, a series of works he created in 1991 and 1992 where he combined contemporary album covers to purposeful effect. In Hot August Night, Marclay stitches together the cover and back cover of Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night and Schoolly D’s Livin' In The Jungle, respectively. Here, the playful figural juxtaposition—the unifying theme of the series—is layered with the additional contrast of musical genres.

     

    1991 was a watershed moment within the history of music, marking the first time a rap group, NWA, achieved the top selling album on the Billboard 200. With Diamond’s 1972 album representing the old guard and Schoolly D’s 1989 album representing the vanguard, Marclay’s work highlights the shift as it was unfolding while foreshadowing the cultural dissonance that would arise from the explosion of hip hop into mainstream music.

    • Provenance

      Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, 2006
      Private Collection, Los Angeles

49

Hot August Night

1991
Record album covers stitched with thread.
22 3/4 x 13 5/8 in. (57.8 x 34.6 cm)
Signed on the verso.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000 

Sold for $76,200

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com


Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 4 April 2023