Hernan Bas - Contemporary Art Part I New York Thursday, November 12, 2009 | Phillips

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  • Provenance


    Sandroni Rey, Los Angeles; Private collection, Los Angeles

  • Exhibited


    Aspen Art Museum, Like Color in Pictures, February 16 - April 15, 2007

  • Literature


    H. Zuckerman Jacobson, Like Color in Pictures, Aspen, 2007, p. 23 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay


    Bas paints not from historic posing, macho fever or ‘70s-style queen aesthetics but from a deep need to tell a story that has been waiting to be told, revealed within a story we already know.
    R. Juares, “Artists on Artists: Roberto Juarez on Hernan Bas”, BOMB, New York, 2004, p. 14
    Bas captures the psychic and emotional fragility of adolescent love, angst and loneliness into a romanticized, albeit darkened and often gothic, dreamlike pictorial. The Lonely Martian can be seen as allegorical to the contemporary coming out story. Charged with elements of queer male adolescence taken in part by Bas’ own sexual identity, he drafts an element of “otherness”—a universal theme common among coming of age youth. The lush, feathered otherworldly landscape which frames the somber Martian boy in melancholy blues and gentle pinks adds a voyeuristic element to the work while heightening the sense of his underlying vulnerability.

  • Artist Biography

    Hernan Bas

    Hernan Bas (b.1978) is a contemporary American painter who lives and works in Miami. His paintings are influenced by the romantic and decadent legacies of 18th and 19th century art, literature, poetry, and religion. These influences result in canvases that are complex and highly detailed and often portray characters, typically young male figures, nestled among flora and fauna.  

    Hernan Bas received a degree from the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida in 1996. Solo exhibitions of Bas’ work have been curated by the Rubell Museum, Miami, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, and Space, K, Seoul.  Bas’ artwork is found in permanent collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada, and Carré d'Art - Musée d'Art Contemporain, Nîmes, France.
     

     
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41

The Lonely Martian

2006

Mixed media on linen over panel.

40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm).

Initialed and dated “HB 06” lower right; initialed, titled and dated “The Lonely Martian HB 06” on  the reverse.

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

Sold for $98,500

Contemporary Art Part I

12 Nov 2009
New York