The work of Sean Landers revolves around an exploration of the experiences and mindset of a contemporary American artist. Through a variety of mediums including text, sculpture and painting, Landers expresses elements of his own career, refracting these ideas inspired by personal experience through a vibrant artistic lens. One recurring motif in Landers’ oeuvre is Plankboy, a wooden figure held together by nails and hinges. For Landers, Plankboy is a vehicle through which he can convey certain complexities inherent to the relationship between an artist and the work they produce.
In Plank Boy Hurt, 2009, we see the titular figure lying in the middle of a forest, curled up amidst a blanket of snow. According to the artist, the concept of “a piece of milled lumber in a forest of natural wood” is a metaphor for not fitting in.i For Landers, this reflects the alienation he felt as an American artist abroad in Europe.ii
Plankboy first appeared in Landers’ works in the early 2000s after the artist gained a strong interest in Rene Magritte’s La Vache Periode between 1947–1948. Considered a complete departure from his distinct style, the Vache Period was Magritte’s form of retaliation against the Parisian art scene that had ignored him for decades. Vache, meaning cow in French, carries vulgar connotations that were subsequently echoed by Magritte’s paintings. He responded to the Parisians by creating a series of crude paintings inspired by cartoons and employing chaotic brushstrokes as well as wild subject matter. Reinforced by the fact that none of the paintings sold after being exhibited, Magritte’s Vache Period was a complete artistic rebellion against Surrealist tendencies at the time.
Rene Magritte, L’Ellipse (The Ellipsis), 1948, Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. Artwork: © 2024 C. Herscovici / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York To Landers, this period in Magritte’s career represents unbridled artistic freedom in the face of conventional aesthetics. This idea resonated deeply with Landers, who called the Vache Period "a language [he] already knew how to speak."iii Through his exploration of Magritte's work, Landers found an artistic style that provided a sense of comfort. He realizes the similarities between himself and Magritte through characters like Plankboy, who represents a blank slate upon which Landers can project facets of his own emotions and experiences.
For Landers, an artist often defined by his propensity for self-reflection, his art represents an intersection of personal experience and references to the art historical canon. One of the most unique facets of Landers’ distinct oeuvre is the appearances of whimsical characters such as Plankboy. By channeling the pathos of his own lived experiences and artistic movements or events that resonate with him, Landers creates visual metaphors that illustrate his own thoughts and feelings while extrapolating them towards larger interpretations regarding the life of a contemporary artist.
i Sean Landers, quoted in Sasha Bogojev, "Studio Time: The New Adventures of Plankboy with Sean Landers," Juxtapoz, November 6, 2019, online.
ii Ibid.
iii Sean Landers, quoted in Caomín Mac Giolla Leíth and Beatrix Ruf, "Interview with Sean Landers," Sean Landers, Zurich, 2008, p. 44.
Provenance
Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2010Exhibited
Tokyo, Taka Ishii Gallery, Sean Landers: Sadness Racket, March 14–April 7, 2009
Dijon, Le Consortium, Sean Landers, March 13–October 18, 2020Literature
Xavier Hernández, "Sean Landers," Taxi Around the Art, no. 2, 2011, p. 93 (illustrated, titled as Super Ego)
Meeka Walsh and Robert Enright, "Writing the Song of Myself: An Interview with Sean Landers," Border Crossings, no. 149, March 2019, online
10
Plank Boy Hurt
signed and dated "Sean Landers 2009" on the reverse
oil on linen
72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm)
Painted in 2009.
Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $44,450
Katerina Blackwood
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20th Century & Contemporary Art
T +1 212 940 1248
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20th Century & Contemporary Art: Online Auction, New York
11 - 20 March 2024
