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“I make work that is really reflective of things that I’m going through and just like my life.”
— Trey AbdellaMeaning in Life, Meaning in Art
Virginia-born American artist Trey Abdella lives and works in New York. The challenges of living in a complex cosmopolitan city has served as the inspiration for his artworks, although the paintings themselves are not specifically about New York. The expressive boldness of Abdella’s works originates from the artist making art because he was grounded by his parents as a child, left only with paper to draw cartoons. Branching from this, a sense of self-correction if not vindication is persistent in the artist’s work; as can be seen from the artist’s portrait, the painting on the right shows a figure ironing his own arm - as in ironing things out - trying to literally straighten things. An ironic sense of misfortune present in the artist’s childhood continues to the present, as Abdella’s artworks invite his viewers a glimpse into his conflicted internal world of dilemmas.
Installation view of the current work at Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, 2020 Trey Abdella’s art strives to resonate with human experiences and feelings, and daringly
confronts the spectator with the artist’s struggles in life without filter. Abdella utilises simple universal iconography referenced from internet memes, movies and cartoons found in contemporary culture. He blends these icons with various aspects of anxiety he or his friends experienced from different scenarios encountered in daily life, portraying the underbelly of society. As can be seen in another piece, Dead Man Walking illustrates a dark story in which love brings a deadly ending to its main character. Abdella’s paintings express insecurity, embarrassment, fear, terror, disgust, unspeakable desires and emotions that we must conceal everyday in order to abide with social conventions and expectations.
Some Things Aren’t Worth Waiting For
Within a legal framework, identity is conferred through officially issued documentation rather than power of personality. The present work, Some Things Aren’t Worth Waiting For, portrays possibly the artist himself awaiting official documentation at a government agency: the character’s ennui is palpable, as the almost-comedic title of the painting suggests that it is not something that he looks forward to receiving. Societal recognition of one’s identity is in a sense self-effacing, as one loses their individuality by becoming a part of it. This feeling is all the more ironic when one considers that the main character sports a branded Rolex, in itself another form of identity crafting through status symbolism. This torment of losing one’s identity is fully expressed by the character dragging his face in an extreme rendition of what is colloquially known as ‘facepalming’, wounding himself in the process as he drastically carves deep grooves into his face.
His eyes are lost, leaving only four deep red tracks. The carefully constructed composition magnifies the power of this imagery and emotion, where the figure is disproportionally large in the foreground against a relatively obscure office that fades out with perspective in the left background. Attention is not brought to the busy office surroundings, but rather to the frozen moment of internal melancholy and self-destruction. The overall effect is reminiscent of exaggerated Looney Tunes scenes, in which characters’ emotions are caricatured to ridiculous extremes for comedic effect, oftentimes zoomed in or highlighted disproportionally.
Left: Detail of the present lot
Right: Looney Tunes characterSkilled Painting Techniques
“(A) big focus on traditional technique made me want to try different mediums, playing with different types of technical languages, like things that are flat like cartoons, and mixing that with reality.”
— Trey AbdellaSimilar to American contemporary artist Jamian Juliano-Villani, Abdella also uses projectors to construct the composition of his artworks. Although Abdella is well trained in realism, he branches out from traditional form and textures of painting, and explores simplistic expressions in drawing in the style of cartoon. The current work exhibits the artist’s skilful application of a varied mixture of brushstrokes and painting techniques. The figure’s coarse face is illustrated with fluffy patches of thick paint contrasting with a cartoonish hand. In contrast, the Rolex Submariner watch is hyper-realistically sculpted with layers of paint, set against a highly textured painted sleeve reminiscent of the feel of cloth. The artist also uses found objects, like a rhinestone and a gold-coloured chain, injecting verisimilitude into the painting. Abdella playfully builds up multiple layers in the composition to stimulate the viewer’s eye to simultaneously process multiple messages within one glance. The highly charged internal emotions packed behind the highly skilled painting techniques blurs the divide between the worlds of reality and illusion.
Lot 273, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Golden Girl, 2015
Phillips Hong Kong Day Sale, 21 June 2022
Estimate HKD 300,000-500,000Collector’s Digest
Born in 1994 in Manassas, West Virginia, Trey Abdella graduated from School of Visual Arts, New York for his BFA in 2016 and furthered his studies with a master’s degree at New York Academy of Art.
The artist’s latest solo exhibition, Almost Heaven, is currently running at the X Museum in Beijing (17 April to 17 July 2022), which marked the artist’s debut in China. Trey Abdella held solo exhibitions internationally at KÖNIG GALERIE, Seoul (2021); KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin (2020); T293 Gallery, Rome (2021, 2019), amongst others. His work has been included in recent group shows at Vito Schnabel Gallery, Los Angeles (2022) and Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles (2021). He also joined the Chubb artist fellowships at the New York Academy of Art (2019-2020). His art is included in important collections such as the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Perez Museum, Miami; Albertina Museum and X Museum, Beijing. The current work was included as part of the To Paint Is To Love Again exhibition at Nino Mier Gallery Los Angeles in 2020.
The artist speaking on his practice
Provenance
Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection
Acquired from the above by the present ownerExhibited
Los Angeles, Nino Mier Gallery, To Paint is to Love Again, 18 -28 January 2020
36
Some Things Aren't Worth Waiting For
signed and dated 'TREY ABDELLA 2019' on the reverse
acrylic, spray paint, modelling paste, Plexiglas, glitter, velvet, rhinestones and plastic gold chain on canvas
122 x 172.7 cm. (48 x 67 7/8 in.)
Executed in 2019.
Estimate
HK$600,000 - 900,000
€72,700-109,000
$76,900-115,000
Sold for HK$2,646,000
Charlotte Raybaud
Specialist, Head of Evening Sale
+852 2318 2026
CharlotteRaybaud@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Hong Kong Auction 22 June 2022
1
Julie Curtiss
Funky Boots
Estimate HK$600,000 - 800,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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2
Jamian Juliano-Villani
Hand's Job
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$819,000
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3
Lucy Bull
8:50
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$11,382,000
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4
Scott Kahn
Soundview
Estimate HK$900,000 - 1,400,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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5
Hernan Bas
Who Told Them We Were Coming?
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$3,528,000
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6
Shara Hughes
Pleasure House
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$6,542,000
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7
Loie Hollowell
Linked Lingam in Red and Blue
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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8
Anna Weyant
Chest
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$4,158,000
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9
George Condo
Transparent Female Forms
Estimate HK$25,000,000 - 35,000,000
Sold for HK$36,550,000
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10
This lot is no longer available.
11
Matthew Wong
Pink Wave
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 26,000,000
Sold for HK$22,635,000
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12
David Hockney
Painted Landscape (Or Red and Blue Landscape)
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 24,000,000
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13
Ed Ruscha
Spied Upon Scene: Window
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$3,150,000
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14
Huang Yuxing
Pearl Shore
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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15
This lot is no longer available.
16
Nicolas Party
Two Portraits
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for HK$6,542,000
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17
George Condo
The Strangers
Estimate HK$5,000,000 - 6,500,000
Sold for HK$5,670,000
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18
Ernie Barnes
Life After Sundown
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$6,048,000
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19
Javier Calleja
1971
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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20
Yoshitomo Nara
Untitled
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for HK$7,510,000
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21
This lot is no longer available.
22
Adrian Ghenie
Pie Fight Study 4
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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23
Michaël Borremans
Stars
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$2,772,000
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24
Li Chen
Angelic Smile
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$4,284,000
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25
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline Series - Big Family
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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26
Zhang Enli
Things
Estimate HK$2,200,000 - 4,200,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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27
This lot is no longer available.
28
Lee Ufan
From Line No. 790372
Estimate HK$9,000,000 - 14,000,000
Sold for HK$11,140,000
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29
Pierre Soulages
Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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30
Ouattara Watts
Intercessor
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$1,134,000
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31
Sam Francis
Untitled
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
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32
KAWS
UNTITLED
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for HK$3,276,000
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33
Kohei Nawa
PixCell-Deer #21
Estimate HK$2,800,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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34
This lot is no longer available.
35
Anna Park
I to I
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$2,268,000
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36
Trey Abdella
Some Things Aren't Worth Waiting For
Estimate HK$600,000 - 900,000
Sold for HK$2,646,000
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37
Szabolcs Bozó
One Bird, A Cat and A Man
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$882,000
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38
Katherine Bernhardt
Laundry Day
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$2,142,000
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39
Issy Wood
Dog With Pendants (Not as Close)
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$1,386,000
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40
Robert Nava
Shark Wing Pegasus
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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41
Ayako Rokkaku
Untitled
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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42
Allison Zuckerman
Bullseye
Estimate HK$550,000 - 750,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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43
Serge Attukwei Clottey
Valentine's Day
Estimate HK$250,000 - 450,000
Sold for HK$693,000
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44
Genieve Figgis
Pink Ballroom
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$2,016,000
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45
Emmanuel Taku
Brothers in Red
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$1,512,000
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46
Aboudia
Take Me II
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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47
José Parlá
Writers' Bench: Grand Concourse & 149th Street, The Bronx
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$1,764,000
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48
Edgar Plans
Night Creatures
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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49
Rafa Macarrón
Sin título (Cosmos)
Estimate HK$700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for HK$1,386,000
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