Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist.
Catalogue Essay

Idris Khan’s work is a cryptic play of appropriation and re-creation, profoundly rooted in questions of authorship and time. Khan starts by photographing a range of existing works, subsequently digitally layering and manipulating the images to produce a final piece that evokes new thoughts concerning the original content and opens up room for interpretation. He uses analog and digital photographic techniques to appropriate existing images, text and musical scores from cultural luminaries, such as Bernd and Hilla Becher, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, Caravaggio, William Turner, Sigmund Freud and the Holy Quran. These figures act as literal building blocks, with which Khan can create a single composite image.
In the present lot, Khan uses musical scores from the Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. The individual notes and staves have become almost indecipherable and recognizable only on close inspection. The numerous layers have created lines of engulfing energy, leaving a spectre of the original image. The once flat page of music has metamorphosed and become animated by the accumulative interventions of the artist’s hand. Such direct interventions imbue the present lot with a painterly sense; it pulsates with energy. Khan’s work can be conceived as a homage to the art, literature and music that has influenced him and the world around him.
"I always wanted to be a painter – I can’t paint. I’ve always wanted to be a musician – I was too lazy to learn to read notes and always wanted to play music by ear. I‘ve always liked the idea of becoming a writer: but I can hardly write and reading frustrates me, because I find my mind wonders with images too much […] The one to one aspect of reading a book is an intimate experience, viewing art in a museum is usually a shared experience with you and the space that it is positioned in, listening to music can be both intimate and shared. A book is taken out of its usual intimate experience and becomes a large piece of art that can penetrate and pulsate in front of your eyes. The Music pieces envelop in front of the viewer and have the power of art instead of sound."
(Idris Khan, in M. Andersen, ‘Idris Khan’s multi-layered photos’, 28 September 2009, http://photoslaves.com)

1

Idris Khan

Rachmaninoff...Preludes

2007
Digital colour coupler print, flush-mounted to aluminium.
241.3 x 177.8 cm (95 x 70 in).
Signed, dated in ink and numbered AP 1/2 on a label affixed to the reverse of the frame. This work is an artist's proof from an edition of 6 plus 2 artist's proofs and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Estimate
£35,000 - 40,000 ♠

Sold for £56,450

MUSIC - Evening Sale

10 December 2010
London

1
Idris Khan
Rachmaninoff...Preludes
Estimate £35,000 - 40,000 ♠
Sold for £56,450
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2
Martin Creed
Work No. 134: Largo, larghetto, adagio, andante, moderato, allegro, presto e prestissimo
Estimate £35,000 - 45,000 ‡♠
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3
Christian Marclay
Les Vierges
Estimate £12,000 - 18,000
Sold for £22,500
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4
Gregor Hildebrandt
Pictures of You (Cure)
Estimate £18,000 - 22,000 ‡♠
Sold for £30,000
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5
Banks Violette
Untitled (Disappear)
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 †
Sold for £30,000
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6
Banks Violette
Hate them (Single Stage)
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 †
Sold for £61,250
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7
John Armleder
Untitled (FS 245)
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
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8
George Condo
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £64,850
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9
Damien Hirst
Beautiful Hours Spin Painting VI
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
Sold for £289,250
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10
Tracey Emin
Sometimes the Dress is Worth More Money Than the Money
Estimate £12,000 - 18,000
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11
Stanley Donwood
i) Problem Intensity ii) Become United iii) Business Penis
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £15,000
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12
Jenny Holzer
Selections from Truisms (1977–1979) and Survival (1983–1985)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
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13
Arman
Untitled
Estimate £80,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £87,650
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14
Andy Warhol
Mick Jagger
Estimate £18,000 - 25,000 ‡
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15
Billy Childish
Self-Portrait
Estimate £12,000 - 18,000 ♠
Sold for £15,000
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16
Robert Crumb
Note to Marty Pahls
Estimate £6,000 - 8,000
Sold for £7,500
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17
Vanessa Beecroft
VBKW.16.JJ, Los Angeles
Estimate £12,000 - 18,000
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18
Vanessa Beecroft
VBKW.14.JJ, Los Angeles
Estimate £12,000 - 18,000
Sold for £11,875
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19
Dennis Morris
Marianne Faithful, Album cover 'Broken English'
Estimate £8,000 - 12,000
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MUSIC - Evening Sale

10 December 2010 London

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

1

Idris Khan

Rachmaninoff...Preludes

MUSIC - Evening Sale

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10 December 2010
London