Provenance
Dallas Contemporary, Dallas (Benefit auction)
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Catalogue Essay
'I had a mission to get people to like me again. Primarily, I was thinking that everyone loves pandas, so if I align myself with them, everyone will love me.' Rob Pruitt

Untitled is testament to Rob Pruitt’s enduring interest in pandas, one which has been expanded and developed considerably throughout the artist’s career. Executed in 2011, the panda bears in this composition stand as an iconoclastic symbol in Pruitt’s oeuvre, epitomising his desire to blend a Pop sensibility with a witty critique of art world structures.

The present lot illustrates Pruitt’s long-standing challenge of established preconceptions of what an artwork should constitute, one which is manifested here by his transplantation of the familiar visual trope of the panda – from mass culture – to the contemporary avant-garde. Certainly, by placing the pandas against a glittering background with no apparent content, the artist creates abstract identities which reflect his exploration of American Pop culture. It demonstrates his steady blur of high-class and lowbrow, and further exemplifies the ease with which a work of art can be created using everyday material. Indeed, the glitter finish reflects the classic Pop sensibility for which Pruitt is known, portraying the universal image of the panda in a manner that draws the viewer in, possessing what the artist refers to as 'that same magnetism […] that birds and bees experience towards flowers.' (Rob Pruitt, in an interview with Net-a-Porter, October 2012). Reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s artistic strategy in his Diamond Dust paintings, Untitled is a physical confirmation of Pruitt’s appropriation and adaption of the practice applied in Pop art, in a way which is characterised by an incisive humour and visual flair.

The image of the pandas, depicted in this piece as docile creatures contentedly chewing on bamboo, is one that Pruitt himself identifies as an 'international symbol that reminds us both to tread lightly and to appreciate the adorable.' (Ibid.). Equal parts black and white, they represent, as the artist continues, 'the harmony between yin and yang' (Ibid.). Pruitt’s empathy lies in highlighting 'the adorable' through painting and formal design; however, unlike his earlier glitter-encrusted Evian boxes, the artist creates a clichéd image of beauty that simultaneously centres on the endangered status of the panda bear: a quintessential example of the creativity and intimacy which embodies Pruitt’s art.

1

Rob Pruitt

Chinese Buffet

2011
glitter and enamel on canvas
121.9 x 121.9 cm. (48 x 48 in.)
Signed and dated 'Rob Pruitt '11' on the overlap.

Estimate
£30,000 - 50,000 ‡

Sold for £104,500

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

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London 27 June 2013 7pm

1
Rob Pruitt
Chinese Buffet
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡
Sold for £104,500
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2
Kelley Walker
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 †
Sold for £230,500
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3
Tauba Auerbach
Untitled (Fold) XV
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £386,500
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4
Ugo Rondinone
No. 209 DREISSIGSTERJUNIZWEITAUSENDUNDNULL
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡
Sold for £86,500
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5
Ugo Rondinone
If There were Anywhere but Desert. Friday
Estimate £350,000 - 500,000 ‡
Sold for £410,500
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6
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #426
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
Sold for £242,500
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7
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled (Bolego)
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £782,500
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8
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #36
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £302,500
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9
Glenn Brown
Oscillate Wildly (after ‘Autumnal Cannibalism’ 1936 by Salvador Dalí)
Estimate £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £2,882,500
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10
Andy Warhol
Pontiac
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,500,000 ‡
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11
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,142,500
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12
Andy Warhol
Diamond Dust Shoes
Estimate £900,000 - 1,200,000 ‡
Sold for £1,142,500
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13
Andy Warhol
Skull
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £698,500
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14
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Three Pontificators
Estimate £2,500,000 - 4,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,210,500
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15
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Three-Tiered Perspective)
Estimate £140,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £170,500
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16
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
Sold for £242,500
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17
Anish Kapoor
Turning the World Upside Down II
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
Sold for £206,500
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18
Antony Gormley
SICK
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £194,500
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19
This lot is no longer available.
20
Andy Warhol
Electric Chairs
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £122,500
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21
George Condo
Smiling Smoker
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000
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22
Marcel Broodthaers
Abbildung
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ♠
Sold for £218,500
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23
Oscar Murillo
Untitled
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ♠†
Sold for £146,500
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24
Sterling Ruby
Alabaster SR10-7
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £110,500
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25
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡
Sold for £104,500
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26
Rashid Johnson
Cosmic Slop
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £86,500
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27
Marc Quinn
Separation of Body and Soul (Ultramarine)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £104,500
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London 27 June 2013 7pm

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

1

Rob Pruitt

Chinese Buffet

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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