Nate Lowman - New Now Evening Sale New York Monday, February 29, 2016 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Maccarone, New York
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Catalogue Essay

    “A lot of the images I use are already out there in the public or in the news. I just steal them or photograph them or repaint them, so they've already been talked about, already been consumed.” Nate Lowman

    Nate Lowman’s varied body of work, from the iconic bullet holes to the graphic Marilyn series, reads much like a story, a burst of imagery and charged moments in time that never quite leave our collective consciousness. His practice of chopping, repeating, reimagining and appropriating glimpses of the world in a whole new way imbues his works with a whole new meaning. Overrun by themes of sex, death, violence, fame, and commercialism, Lowman’s oeuvre is distinctly American in its audacious, intense glory, and yet not without the catastrophe for its own context. The present lot Orders from Corporate (Randall's Island?) of 2014 is indicative of the artist’s ability to create space without its explicit presence—haunting, profound and rich all at once.

    In Orders from Corporate (Randall's Island?), the Manhattan skyline appears in a warm glowing haze, as seen from Randall’s Island, located off the East Harlem shore in the East River. In a technique highly similar to that of the Marilyns, Lowman explores the relationship of positive and negative forms, and we sense color as the primary tool of communicating both subject and space. The night sky of the city is rendered in an indigo blue, capturing and reflecting the lights of the city. Lowman’s clever juxtaposition of palette and subject borrows much from the blurry, coarse style of graffiti, resulting in an inimitable combination of classic and contemporary. Lowman’s relationship to New York City serves as a creative impetus to his work. After graduating college, his lack of direction in life came into focus after the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. He has described, “Soon after that, I got my first studio in Bed-Stuy. It was like, ‘If you want to go do something, do it now’” (J. Bernstein, “Why Isn’t This Man Smiling?”, The New York Times, December 2012). Orders from Corporate (Randall's Island?) captures this artistic immediacy and a deeply-felt connection to the artist’s city with its hazy skyline shapes, almost fragile in their glow.

15

Orders From Corporate (Randall's Island?)

2014
alkyd on linen, in 2 parts
40 x 60 in. (101.6 x 152.4 cm)

Estimate
$100,000 - 150,000 

Contact Specialist
Rebekah Bowling
Head of Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1250

New Now Evening Sale

New York Auction 29 February 2016 6pm