Provenance
Paula Cooper, New York
Catalogue Essay
‘To create these works I contort and fold the canvas, ironing it or letting it sit under weights to set the creases. After a few days I loosely spread the creased fabric on the floor and spray it directionally with acrylic paint put through an industrial house paint sprayer-a process in which pigment acts like raking light. When the paint is dry I stretch the canvas taught. The resulting flat surface carries a near-perfect imprint of the canvas' previous three-dimensional self; the surface still appears wrinkled or folded. This is my take on tromp-l'oeil or traditional realist painting, one that relies on strategy rather than virtuosity’ (T. Auerbach, quoted in S. Ovstebo, Folds, exh. cat., Bergen Kunsthall, 2012, p. 105).

Exploring and illustrating a new dimension, one that visually bridges the two-dimensional with the three-dimensional, lies at the core of Tauba Auerbach’s series of fold paintings first exhibited in 2009. Describing this point of cross-section as the ‘2.5th dimension’, Auerbach forms a three-dimensional illusion on a flat surface. Through the tactile method of rendering her works, the artist creates a visually arresting display of lines and angles by manipulating her canvas in such a variety of ways. The subtle differences in tone that are achieved by spraying the canvas, rather than employing a paintbrush, imbues the work with radiance that changes like a psychedelic mirage as one draws closer to the picture surface. This sense of light and shadow, both emanating from the work and seemingly casting shadows onto it, is brought to the fore in Untitled (Fold) (2011) because of the binary colours selected by Auerbach in this work. The warm ochre contrasted by the cold indigo gives rise to an array of juxtaposed planes of colour henceforth, allowing the creases and folds within the canvas to emerge.

Though Auerbach’s diverse portfolio ranges of mediums and techniques, her Fold paintings embody the key notions that permeate all her artistic production. Thus, the artist not only draws our attention to a dialogue between the different dimensions, but also to a visual contest between ideas of a mechanised geometric accuracy and a spontaneity most associated with the hand of the artist. Despite the fact that the lines in Untitled (Fold) appear mathematical and precise, they are produced through a random process of folding and creasing. Meanwhile, the colour that emphasises their forms is dusted onto the work through a spray can, thus limiting the range of texture or marks produced by the artist herself. The subtle nuances of folds accentuated through colour give her works a wondrous quality, one that embraces a weightless tactility so typical of this series of works where ghosts of sculpted landscapes linger just out of reach; the viewer can simply glimpse their presence but never touch them.

Ο◆22

Tauba Auerbach

Untitled (Fold)

2011
acrylic on canvas
153.5 x 114.4 cm (60 3/8 x 45 in.)
Signed and dated 'Tauba Auerbach 2011' on the overlap.

Estimate
£1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡

Sold for £1,426,500

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

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London 14 October 2015 7pm

1
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Blue Eyes Brown Hanging Perforated Mark M3.d)
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £116,500
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2
Rosemarie Trockel
Study for Old Friend
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £200,500
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3
Peter Doig
Bird House
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
Sold for £242,500
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4
Richard Prince
Untitled (Cowboy)
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £602,500
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5
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Three-Tiered Perspective)
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡
Sold for £842,500
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6
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,266,500
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7
Christopher Wool
Untitled (Jazz death)
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,314,500
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8
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,930,500
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9
Yoshitomo Nara
Missing in Action
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡
Sold for £1,986,500
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10
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £458,500
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11
Keith Haring
Untitled
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £218,500
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12
Keith Haring
Untitled (Head Stand)
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £482,500
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13
John Baldessari
Two Dogs and Two Aliens
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
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14
Ed Ruscha
Pneumatic Muscles Hydraulic Smiles
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡
Sold for £386,500
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15
George Condo
Stranger on a Plane
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £194,500
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16
Albert Oehlen
Omegasachen-35
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £302,500
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17
Damien Hirst
Aminobenzoyl Hydrazide
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £362,500
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18
Alighiero Boetti
Alternandosi e Dividendosi
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
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19
Lucio Fontana
Concetto Spaziale, Attese
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ♠
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20
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate £8,000,000 - 12,000,000 ‡
Sold for £7,922,500
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21
Mark Bradford
Constitution IV
Estimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡
Sold for £3,778,500
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22
Tauba Auerbach
Untitled (Fold)
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,426,500
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23
Danh Vo
VJ Star
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
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24
Richard Prince
Untitled (Couples)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £152,500
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25
Urs Fischer
Horse Fraud
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
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26
Cory Arcangel
Photoshop CS: 110 by 72 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient "Russell's Rainbow" (turn transparency off), mousedown y=25300 x=17600, mouse up y=4300 x=17600
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000
Sold for £158,500
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27
Yayoi Kusama
Infinity-Nets (OPARHJ)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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28
Sterling Ruby
SP60
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29
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square: Wide Sight (study)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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30
Neo Rauch
Die Lage
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
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31
Anselm Kiefer
The Secret Life of Plants
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
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32
Anselm Kiefer
Paete non Dolet
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33
Antony Gormley
Domain XV
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34
This lot is no longer available.
35
Jonas Wood
D.J.
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £62,500
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36
Richard Prince
Untitled (portrait)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £98,500
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37
KAWS
Snoopy: Red Baron
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £128,500
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London 14 October 2015 7pm

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

Ο◆22

Tauba Auerbach

Untitled (Fold)

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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