Provenance
White Cube, London
Exhibited
Vienna, Kunsthalle, Raqib Shaw: Absence of God, 2009
Literature
H. K. Bhabha, Raqib Shaw: Absence of God, London, 2009 (Illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
"I have always been obsessed with the idea of making industrial paints and decorative materials into something beyond decorative. I want the paintings to question people's notions of aesthetics. In looking at my work I want people to believe in the possibility of transcendence, that base metal might be turned into gold, or as Proust eloquently wrote to reveal ‘the pearl that may give the lie to our carapace of paste and pewter'."
(Raqib Shaw, quoted in The Garden of Earthly Delights, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, 2003)
Raqib Shaw's seductive and ornate works are more than a mere outburst of psychedelic, surreal and pornographic imagery. He was born in Calcutta, brought up in the cultural wealth of Kashmir and educated in London, where he now lives and works. Shaw's richly layered work is influenced by this diverse background and by his thorough knowledge of the history of art. His representations of utopian hedonistic worlds populated by copulating mythical part-human, part-animal creatures are informed by various aspects of Eastern culture such as Kama Sutra, Hindu mythology and prints by the Japanes artist Hokusai. Executed on monumental wooden panels, Raqib Shaw's works are directly influenced by the elaborate and dream-like depictions of paradise found in the paintings of the Northern Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch. Encrusted with semi-precious stones, the bejewelled brilliance of Shaw's surfaces reflect the richness and beauty of the Indian subcontinent's landscape where the artist spent his childhood.
The present lot, And his tears of blood will drown the cities of men II, is a monumental Renaissance-inspired tondo made with glossy industrial enamel paint and semi-precious stones in a technique emulating the bas-relief or the compartmented effects of cloisonné. This work is one of the most consequential and accomplished compositions from his recent Absence of God series, his second major body of work following the highly acclaimed Garden of Earthly Delights series. While in the Garden of Earthly Delights, Shaw looked at the paintings of Bosch, in the Absence of God series, Shaw was inspired by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi's depiction of ancient Rome.
Shaw depicts a phantasmal landscape of underwater hybrid creatures indulging in bacchanalian debauchery, all set against a backdrop of classical ruins. With a porcupine quill and shiny metallic paints, Shaw fills the canvas with abundant flora and fauna, ruined temples and fantastical creatures. Winged warriors simultaneously perform acts of bondage, flagellation and ritual disembowelment while showers of screaming hominid faces explode mid-air and regal monkeys survey, from under their parasols, a mutant striving to catch flocks of glittering butterflies with its broken net. Beyond the imagery, one cannot help but be mesmerized by the intricate detail of execution found within the vibrantly painted flora and fauna inhabiting Raqib Shaw's grotesquely beautiful world.
While the stated and obvious art historical reference is to Piranesi's Vedutes of ancient Rome, another point of reference both thematically and compositionally, is Thomas Couture's mid-19th-century masterpiece The Romans of the Decadence. Both are set against a backdrop of classical Roman ruins and both depict orgiastic debauchery. Shaw's contemporary version, however, does not include humans but the fantastic hybrid creatures set in a lush jungle in a manner reminiscent of the French turn-of-the-century painter Henri Rousseau. The most recent art historical reference may be the work of German Surrealist paint Max Ernst, who, like Shaw, had an interest in human psychology and the violence of human sexual desire. Ultimately, Shaw's tableau may be read as a contemporary allegory of human greed.

12

Raqib Shaw

Absence of God III... And His Tears of Blood Will Drown the Cities of Men II

2008
Acrylic, glitter, enamel and rhinestones on fine portrait linen.
Diameter: 152 cm (60 in).
Signed, titled and dated 'Raqib Shaw Absence of God III... And His Tears of Blood Will Drown the Cities of Men II 2008' on the reverse.

Estimate
£600,000 - 800,000 ‡

Sold for £553,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011
London

1
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £213,650
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2
Mary Heilmann
Rude Boy
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡
Sold for £103,250
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3
Jim Lambie
Night Divides the Day
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £91,250
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4
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attesa
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
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5
Günther Uecker
Mutation
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £223,250
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6
Robert Morris
Felt
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
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7
Georg Herold
Untitled
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
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8
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
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9
Peter Fischli and David Weiss
4 Hostessen (4 Stewardesses)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £277,250
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10
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £350,000 - 550,000 ‡♠
Sold for £337,250
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11
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Overrun
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ‡
Sold for £1,127,650
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12
Raqib Shaw
Absence of God III... And His Tears of Blood Will Drown the Cities of Men II
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £553,250
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13
Anselm Reyle
Harmony
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
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14
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 100,000 ♠
Sold for £79,250
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15
Subodh Gupta
No. 1
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
Sold for £121,250
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16
Donald Judd
Untitled (89-30)
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £169,250
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17
Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov
The Painting on an Easel
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
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18
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Ritratto sigg. Lerre (Portrait of Mr. Lerre)
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ♠
Sold for £67,250
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19
Martin Kippenberger
Mirror for Hang-Over Bud
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
Sold for £145,250
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20
Robert Rauschenberg
Address Unknown
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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21
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
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22
Albert Oehlen
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ♠
Sold for £193,250
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23
Karel Appel
Birds Over the Red Sea
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £205,250
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24
Victor Vasarely
Cassiopée II NB
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £157,250
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25
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Disco con Sfera
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠
Sold for £61,250
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26
Bill Viola
Basin of Tears
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 Ω
Sold for £181,250
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27
Marlene Dumas
Equality
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
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28
Dan Colen
Wouldn't it be Nice
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 †
Sold for £85,250
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29
Martin Creed
Work no. 230 (Don’t Worry)
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ♠
Sold for £51,650
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011 London

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Provenance

Exhibited

Literature

Catalogue Essay

12

Raqib Shaw

Absence of God III... And His Tears of Blood Will Drown the Cities of Men II

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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17 Feb 2011
London