“In 1995 I would go to the MoMA in New York and I fell in love with a painting by Piet Mondrian. I really wanted to own it, but I had no money. The only way to make enough money to afford a Mondrian was to go down to Wall Street and get a job and make the millions of dollars it would take to buy one, but I didn't think that was an authentic use of my time. I studied it obsessively and recreated it using the materials that were readily available to me; plywood and gaffers tape.”–Tom Sachs
Irreverent with a dose of humor, Tom Sach’s 138 Losenge Composition with Four Yellow Lines 1933, 1996 sees the artist reimagine Mondrian’s seminal Lozenge composition with yellow lines in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag. Mondrian’s geometric work– including even the artist’s frame– is cleverly reconstructed with humble gaffer’s tape in bright primary colors. Sachs, known for his fastidious recreations of objects using everyday materials, spent days studying the Modernist master’s work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York before embarking on his homage to the artist, melding the best of Mondrian's forms with his own experimental, tongue-in-cheek approach to create 138 Losenge Composition with Four Yellow Lines 1933.
Piet Mondrian, Lozenge composition with yellow lines, 1933, Kunstmuseum Den Haag Provenance
Morris Healy Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
346
138 Losenge Composition with Four Yellow Lines 1933
inscribed "PM 33" lower left; signed, titled, inscribed and dated "P.M. "138 Losenge [sic] Composition with Four Yellow Lines" 1933 © 1996 Tom Sachs MADE IN USA" on the reverse
gaffer tape on panel
46 x 46 in. (116.8 x 116.8 cm)
Executed in 1996.
Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $69,300
Patrizia Koenig
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Afternoon Session
+1 212 940 1279
pkoenig@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session
New York Auction 16 November 2022
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