Christian Rosa - New Now & Design Hong Kong Sunday, November 26, 2023 | Phillips

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  • “I think the riddle of the evolution in his work involves Rosa restricting his materials and getting rid of brushwork. Shuffling off a densely painted background and reducing the palette and materials drastically, he is able to lighten the load and create something that feels very fresh.”
    — Kathy Grayson

    The painting God Hopes, rich with spontaneous gestures like the chaotic black scribble, captures Christian Rosa's artistic practice in allowing the painting to paint itself, driven by the moment's impulse. Rosa's abstract paintings are characterized by their minimalistic and improvisational style. His approach to abstraction can be seen as a form of automatic drawing where the process of creation is free-flowing and impulsive rather than rigidly structured, calling to mind the works of Joan Miró. His works are often created on large, raw, untreated canvases, where Rosa employs a variety of materials such as charcoal, oil paint, resin, and pencil to build up individual shapes and marks. Each element, from the wavy grey line to the undulating yellow, acts autonomously. The balance struck between dense and sparse elements is a testament to Rosa's mastery in harmonizing contrasts. This harmony, reflective of life's unpredictable oscillations between chaos and calm, is further emphasized by the painting's deliberate lack of a concrete narrative where spontaneity coexists with calculated minimalism.

     

    Christian Rosa is a Brazilian-born artist noted for his abstract paintings and sculptures. He graduated from the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna in 2012, where he studied under Daniel Richter. Rosa's major gallery solo shows commenced in 2014, with exhibitions at prominent galleries such as Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin and White Cube in London. He exhibited extensively throughout Europe, the US, and South America during 2014 and 2015. The present work God Hopes was created during the height of his career. Outside the conventional art sphere, Rosa has engaged in several collaborative and independent projects. He founded ‘Grande Vista,’ an artist residency program aimed at introducing emerging European and American artists to curators, galleries, and collectors in Los Angeles. Additionally, he collaborated with Austrian musician Yung Hurn on a song in 2017 and partnered with Baker Skateboards in 2018 to release a limited-edition series of art skateboard decks. 

    • Provenance

      White Cube, Hong Kong
      Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2015

75

God Hopes

signed and dated 'Christian Rosa 2015' on the overlap
oil and charcoal on canvas
220 x 300 cm. (86 5/8 x 118 1/8 in.)
Executed in 2015.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$80,000 - 120,000 
€9,500-14,200
$10,300-15,400

Contact Specialist

Angela Tian
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now & Design Sale
20th Century & Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
+852 2318 2058
AngelaTian@phillips.com

New Now & Design

Hong Kong Auction 26 November 2023