Provenance
Private Collection, Europe
Catalogue Essay
As a trained photographer, Kassay has translated many of photography’s essential techniques and concepts into his painting practice. In
photography, as in the silver paintings, three elements are critical, namely light, colour and movement. As the critic Anthony Huberman states:
“With their shimmering silver surfaces, his canvases transform blankness into aura and emptiness into refection. These paintings have no colour,
no paint and no image, but as objects in space they take on all the lights, shadows, colours and images of their surroundings.” (A. Huberman,
Fields of Light, in Mousse, issue 24, Summer 2010, pp.72–75).

The silver paintings are primed, composed, painted and prepared on canvas in the studio and then finished by a process similar to mirror /
silver plating. The production process and its alchemy being an integral part of the painting, Kassay treats illumination and transformation
as primary subjects: “I was just interested in gestures of absolute transformation of surface…” (in A. Walleston, Jacob Kassay: History’s
Mirror, art in America, June 2011).

Continuing the dialogue with the traditions of monochrome painting such as Robert Ryman, Kassay uses the application of paint as an
essential element in his highly refined examination of the optical and material properties of the painting discipline. Yves Klein’s work also
comes to mind, with his studies of monochromatic paintings and his study in chemistry in order to achieve the perfect blue. The character of
the present work is particularly compelling because it recedes from the current discourse in contemporary art into a timelessness, challenging
the linearity of art history.

25

Jacob Kassay

Untitled

2012
acrylic and silver deposit on canvas
213.4 x 152.4 cm (84 x 60 in.)
Signed 'Kassay 12' on the overlap and the stretcher.

Estimate
£120,000 - 180,000 ‡

Sold for £164,500

Contact Specialist
Peter Sumner
Head of Contemporary Art, London
psumner@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4063

Contemporary Evening Sale

London Auction 2 July 2014 7pm

1
David Ostrowski
F (Gee Vaucher)
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ♠†
Sold for £170,500
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2
Tauba Auerbach
Untitled (Fold)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £386,500
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3
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £842,500
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4
Lucien Smith
Boys Don't Cry
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £116,500
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5
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £602,500
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6
Mark Bradford
An Opening On The Left
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Sold for £698,500
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7
Sterling Ruby
SP33
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 †
Sold for £542,500
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8
Richard Prince
My Life as a Weapon
Estimate £550,000 - 750,000 ‡
Sold for £680,500
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9
Andy Warhol
Self-Portrait
Estimate £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,882,500
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10
Damien Hirst
Lucy
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £290,500
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11
This lot is no longer available.
12
Antony Gormley
Domain XI (Freefall)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ♠
Sold for £182,500
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13
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £812,500
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14
Gilbert & George
Tree Jesus
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £86,500
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15
Ed Ruscha
Spots
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000
Sold for £230,500
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16
Anselm Kiefer
Alexandria
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
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17
This lot is no longer available.
18
Robert Morris
Untitled (Brown Felt)
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000
Sold for £158,500
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19
Robert Mangold
Column Structure XXII A
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000
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20
Ed Ruscha
Reef
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000
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21
Ai Weiwei
Marble Chair
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £92,500
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22
Zhang Huan
Family Tree
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £206,500
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23
Adriana Varejão
A Grande Curva
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £422,500
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24
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡♠
Sold for £122,500
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25
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £164,500
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26
Mark Flood
Mineral
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡
Sold for £86,500
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27
Ashley Bickerton
Stratified Landscape #3
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £43,750
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28
Alex Hubbard
Rockaway One
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
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29
KAWS
Projector
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £98,500
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Contemporary Evening Sale

London Auction 2 July 2014 7pm

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

25

Jacob Kassay

Untitled

Contemporary Evening Sale

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