Renell Medrano - Photographs & Helmut Newton: Provocateur London Thursday, May 16, 2024 | Phillips

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  • “The people, the environment and the vulnerability are what I carry with me in my practice.”
    —Renell Medrano 

    Born and raised in the Bronx, NY, Renell Medrano (Dominican American, b.1992) spent carefree summers in the Dominican Republic, playing in the sun with her extended family. For her candid series Pampara, the artist returned for the first time as an adult to explore the ‘energy and beauty’ of her Dominican roots and her parents’ homeland. As explained by Medrano, the series title Pampara is a popular saying referring to ‘how bright Dominican Republic is, how “lit” it is.’ In the work offered here, we see a peaceful moment: two boys lying back-to-back on the sand, basking in the Dominican warmth. ‘We always give this masculinity to the boys in the Dominican Republic,’ the artist comments. ‘But it’s okay to have a soft side, and that’s what I wanted to show in these images: that vulnerability.’  

     

    Medrano has received the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award for Commercial and Editorial Photography (2024) as well as The New York Times Lens blog award (2014). Her work has been widely exhibited, including as part of Aperture’s groundbreaking travelling show The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion (2020-23), and published in such leading publications as Vogue, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar and The New York Times. 

     

    This offering marks the artist’s debut at auction. 

     

    Video interview with Renell Medrano for the ICP Infinity Award, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.

ULTIMATE

3

Untitled from PAMPARA

2019
Archival pigment print, mounted.
Image/Sheet: 157.3 x 126.9 cm (61 7/8 x 49 7/8 in.)
Frame: 162 x 132 cm (63 7/8 x 51 7/8 in.)

Signed in ink, printed title, date and number 1/1 on an artist label, signed in ink, printed title and date on a Certificate of Authenticity, both accompanying the work.

This work is number 1 from the edition of 1 and is unique in this size.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for £9,525

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Rachel Peart
Head of Department, London
RPeart@phillips.com
 

Yuka Yamaji
Head of Photographs, Europe
YYamaji@phillips.com
 

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Photographs & Helmut Newton: Provocateur

London Auction 16 May 2024