Rosemarie Trockel - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale Hong Kong Thursday, July 9, 2020 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Exhibited

    Kunsthaus Bregenz, Rosemarie Trockel. Märzôschnee ûnd Wiebôrweh sand am Môargô niana më, 24 January - 6 April 2015

  • Catalogue Essay


    Joseph Beuys
    Stripes from the house of the shaman, 1964-72
    Collection of National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
    Composed of vibrantly coloured stripes that run down the canvas in alternating shades of lemon yellow and orange stacked above light and dark blue, Ocean View is an exquisite example of Rosemarie Trockel’s groundbreaking ‘Knitted Paintings’, a series the artist commenced in 1984. Going back to the genesis of this series, the artist explains: ‘In the 70s there were a lot of questionable women’s exhibitions, mostly on the theme of house and home. I tried to take wool, which was viewed as a woman’s material, out of this context and to rework it in a neutral process of production.’ (Rosemarie Trockel, quoted in Isabelle Graw, ‘Rosemarie Trockel Talks to Isabelle Graw’, Artforum, March 2003, online). Appearing to resemble an abstract seascape at sunset, Ocean Drive encapsulates the defining themes that have weaved throughout the development of Trockel’s influential oeuvre, and is thus a prime portrayal of her now maturely defined practice.


    Joseph Beuys
    Felt Suit, 1970
    Collection of the Tate, London
    Having emerged onto the German art scene when artists including Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Georg Baselitz were garnering increasing international acclaim, Trockel’s multi-faceted approach exuded a feminist sensibility that stood in direct contrast to her contemporaries. Drawing influence from Joseph Beuys’s disdain for the hierarchy of artistic media, after having studied at the Werkkunstschule in Cologne in the late 1970s - an institution heavily influenced by her German predecessor, Trockel too, experimented into how unconventional materials could inform her work. Loud and subversive, Trockel’s woven paintings challenged notions of femininity, genre classifications, and culture, occupying a unique position within the discourse of abstract art that quickly propelled her to artistic stardom


    The present work exhibited during at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, in 2015
    As embodied in the materiality of the present work, although the canvas evokes both the graphic radiance of a digital screen and the tactile nature of a colour field composition, Trockel actually uses industrially knitted wool to create her visually striking patterns. Juxtaposing the traditionally female craft of needlework and tapestry with using machine-manufactured fabric, the artist offers a further twist through usurping a place traditionally associated with masculinity. By integrating historically feminine domestic handicraft and labour with the praxis of contemporary art, Trockel thus develops a complex dialogue that touches upon questions of material sensibility and production modes, while simultaneously undermines established ideals and outdated gender politics.

    Widely considered as one of the most successful female artists of her time, Trockel is acclaimed for broadening the art world. Along with being the first female to participate in the German pavilion of the Venice Biennale (1999), the artist has been the subject of numerous major solo exhibitions around the world. Furthermore, her work has found a place in prestigious museum collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, and the Tate in London.

Property of an Important Private International Collector

125

Ocean view

2014
signed 'R. Trockel' on the overlap
knitted wool mounted to canvas
50.3 x 50.2 cm. (19 3/4 x 19 3/4 in.)
Executed in 2014.

Estimate
HK$480,000 - 650,000 
€52,300-70,800
$61,500-83,300

Sold for HK$600,000

Contact Specialist
Danielle So
Associate Specialist, Head of Day Sale

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale

Hong Kong Auction 9 July 2020