Provenance
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Private Collection
Gagosian Gallery, Paris
Catalogue Essay
In Untitled Rudolf Stingel combines visually seductive pattern with sharp commentary on the hierarchy of painting and the museum. For the past
twenty years Stingel has been concerned with the nature of painting, and has sought to redefine it through his innovative use of materials
and techniques, which challenge the traditional concepts of originality, authorship and fine art.

This piece is a quintessential example of his series of wall-paper inspired monochromes. The opulent black-on-black pattern of this work replicates
traditional damask, a woven textile originally produced from silk in Syria, and later applied to ornate rococo and baroque wallpaper and carving.
Stingel’s upbringing in the Italian Tyrol and Vienna undoubtedly influenced this choice as he was exposed to this lavish style from a young age. By
reproducing such a pattern Stingel not only invokes the artistic traditions of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, but also highlights issues of
authorship and originality as the visual concept and pattern are not Stingel’s own design. The only hints of Stingel’s own intervention in the
painting are the slight corruptions in the pattern and distribution of paint. By reproducing wallpaper patterns onto paint and canvas, Stingel is also
wryly commenting upon the conventional hierarchy of fine art and craft – by merging the two, Untitled becomes a destabilizing force, disrupting
the accepted distinctions between fine art and wall decoration. Andy Warhol similarly fused the two, creating wallpapers which were overtly
Kitsch, again challenging notions of fine art. the two are confounded further by the fact that Untitled is a single, autonomous work that hangs
on the wall like a traditional painting. The viewer of these works is left unsettled by this flux between wallpaper and painting, fine art and craft.
This piece is therefore an ironic statement – painting and wallpaper are shown to be almost synonymous and the fragility of notions of authorship
and originality are exposed. This is effectively counterbalanced by Stingel’s sensual application of paint and elegant pattern, invoking the rich artistic
history of decadence in Europe.
Artist Biography
Rudolf Stingel
Italian • 1956
Rudolf Stingel came to prominence in the late 1980s for his insistence on the conceptual act of painting in a context in which it had been famously declared dead. Despite the prevailing minimalist and conceptual narrative of the time, the Italian-born artist sought to confront the fundamental aspirations and failures of Modernist painting through the very medium of painting itself. While his works do not always conform to the traditional definitions of painting, their attention to surface, space, color and image provide new and expanded ways of thinking about the process and "idea" of painting. Central to his multifarious and prolific oeuvre is an examination of the passage of time and the probing of the fundamental questions of authenticity, meaning, hierarchy, authorship and context by dislocating painting both internally and in time and space. Stingel is best known for his wall-to-wall installations, constructed of fabric or malleable Celotex sheets, as well as his seemingly more traditional oil-on-canvas paintings.
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24

Rudolf Stingel

Untitled

2007
oil on canvas
70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.)
Signed and dated 'Stingel 2007' on the reverse.

Estimate
£120,000 - 180,000 ‡♠

Sold for £122,500

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

Contemporary Evening Sale

London Auction 2 July 2014 7pm

1
David Ostrowski
F (Gee Vaucher)
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ♠†
Sold for £170,500
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2
Tauba Auerbach
Untitled (Fold)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £386,500
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3
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £842,500
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4
Lucien Smith
Boys Don't Cry
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £116,500
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5
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £602,500
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6
Mark Bradford
An Opening On The Left
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Sold for £698,500
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7
Sterling Ruby
SP33
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 †
Sold for £542,500
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8
Richard Prince
My Life as a Weapon
Estimate £550,000 - 750,000 ‡
Sold for £680,500
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9
Andy Warhol
Self-Portrait
Estimate £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,882,500
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10
Damien Hirst
Lucy
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £290,500
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11
This lot is no longer available.
12
Antony Gormley
Domain XI (Freefall)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ♠
Sold for £182,500
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13
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £812,500
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14
Gilbert & George
Tree Jesus
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £86,500
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15
Ed Ruscha
Spots
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000
Sold for £230,500
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16
Anselm Kiefer
Alexandria
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
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17
This lot is no longer available.
18
Robert Morris
Untitled (Brown Felt)
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000
Sold for £158,500
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19
Robert Mangold
Column Structure XXII A
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000
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20
Ed Ruscha
Reef
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000
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21
Ai Weiwei
Marble Chair
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £92,500
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22
Zhang Huan
Family Tree
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £206,500
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23
Adriana Varejão
A Grande Curva
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £422,500
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24
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡♠
Sold for £122,500
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25
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £164,500
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26
Mark Flood
Mineral
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡
Sold for £86,500
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27
Ashley Bickerton
Stratified Landscape #3
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £43,750
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28
Alex Hubbard
Rockaway One
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
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29
KAWS
Projector
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £98,500
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Contemporary Evening Sale

London Auction 2 July 2014 7pm

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Rudolf Stingel

24

Rudolf Stingel

Untitled

Contemporary Evening Sale

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