Katherina Olschbaur - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York Thursday, May 19, 2022 | Phillips

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  • Painted in 2021, Katherina Olschbaur’s The Lovers offers an immersive landscape in which the limbs of the titular lovers curve and entwine. The bodies are picked out in swathes of magenta, deep red and royal blue, their shadowed faces turned towards each other in a passionate embrace. The Lovers is a stunning example of Olschbaur's interrogation of desire, power and emotion and their expression through body language. Her work defies easy categorization, as gender, sexuality and narrative twist on her immense canvas.

     

    A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this painting will benefit Black Rock Senegal, Kehinde Wiley’s multi-disciplinary residency program in Dakar that seeks to support new international artistic creation through collaborative exchange and to incite change in the global discourse about what Africa means today. 

     

    Olschbaur was selected as an Artist-in-Residence in 2021 at Black Rock Senegal, where she was “inspired by the work of local dance companies whose practices intertwine contemporary movement with traditional rhythms and techniques.”i The motion of bodies—action and reaction, push and pull—can be seen in The Lovers, as Olschbaur positions the body as a site of resistance and repressed desire. 

     

    i Katherina Olschbaur, Instagram post, August 14, 2021.

    • Provenance

      Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      Los Angeles, Nicodim Gallery, Katherina Olschbaur: Live Flesh, December 16, 2021–February 5, 2022

    • Literature

      “Katherina Olschbaur: Live Flesh at Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles,” Arte Fuse, January 6, 2022, online (illustrated)
      Sasha Bogojev, “Live Flesh: Katherina Olschbaur @ Nicodim, Los Angeles,” Juxtapoz, January 25, 2022, online (illustrated)

Property sold with a portion of the Proceeds to Benefit Black Rock Senegal

315

The Lovers

signed, partially titled and dated "2021 K Olschbaur Lovers" on the reverse
oil on linen
82 5/8 x 78 5/8 in. (209.9 x 199.7 cm)
Painted in 2021.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for $75,600

Contact Specialist

Patrizia Koenig
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Afternoon Session
+1 212 940 1279
pkoenig@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session

New York Auction 19 May 2022