Provenance
Eva Presenhuber, Zurich
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Catalogue Essay
"I like art that is capable of organizing a space of perpetual and indefinite accumulation of time and language and image in an immobile place." Ugo Rondinone

Ugo Rondinone’s ACHTERFEBRUARZWEITAUSENDUNDSIEBEN (February 8, 2007) from 2007, is a mesmerizing example from the series of target paintings that the Swiss-born artist has been making since the mid-nineties. While reminiscent of the work of the American Color Field painter Kenneth Noland and the target paintings of Jasper Johns, Rondinone’s circular, flat, vibrantly colored out-of-focus paintings have a contemporary aesthetic. These target paintings create a powerful visual experience – the viewer’s gaze is drawn hypnotically into the depths of the painting by the concentric circular bands of glowing color. By appropriating these key works of his predecessors, Rondinone’s work contains a subtle irony directed at modernism. Although the target is closely linked with the acts of looking and aiming, the concentric circles of his version are blurred, annihilating the essence of a target. Any Abstract Expressionist spirituality to be perceived in the work is banished by the banality of the work’s title which, as with every painting in this series, simply refers to the date of its creation – in the case of this work, February 8, 2007. The artist’s intention is to enthrall the viewer at first sight by simultaneously questioning our engagement with art in a very pure way. The monumental pictorial quality accelerates our desire towards the mystical work of art and invites us to dive into its sphere of new reality. The magical sphere is romantic in a naïve way, allowing the idea of a dream to take over the everyday.

Rondinone’s artistic strategy is based on a precise vocabulary that he shares with fellow Swiss artists such as Peter Fischli & David Weiss and Urs Fischer. Together with other key series of work, Rondinone reuses the target paintings for many exhibitions, reassembling them in repeated arrangements. In this sense, the artist is building up a poetic monologue of a personal artistic reality. “It’s a monologue … The viewer has the symbols from which they can create their own story, but it’s not required that you decode my motivation. It’s a bit like Duchamp. He had his own monologue.” (in M.Falconer, “Masquerade: Ugo Rondinone Uncovered”, Modern Painters, March 2006)

16

Ugo Rondinone

ACHTERFEBRUARZWEITAUSENDUNDSIEBEN (February 8, 2007)

2007
acrylic on linen, Plexiglas plaque with caption
diameter 86 5/8 in. (220 cm)
Signed "Ugo Rondinone" on a label affixed to the reverse.

Estimate
$200,000 - 300,000

Contact Specialist
Rebekah Bowling
Head of Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1250

New Now Evening Sale

New York Auction 29 February 2016 6pm

1
Korakrit Arunanondchai
Untitled (History Painting)
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $62,500
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2
John Gerrard
Lufkin (near Hugo, Colorado)
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $75,000
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3
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Black and White Butterfly 330)
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
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4
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $257,000
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5
KAWS
NYT
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $161,000
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6
Yayoi Kusama
Nets
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $62,500
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7
Elizabeth Peyton
Star, Elliott
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $209,000
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8
This lot is no longer available.
9
John Baldessari
Sediment: Leg and Shirt
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
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10
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11
Seth Price
Untitled (Pearlescent White Jacket)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $197,000
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12
Tim Noble and Sue Webster
$
Estimate $120,000 - 180,000
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13
Yoshitomo Nara
Household Dog
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $185,000
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14
Danh Vo
We the people (detail)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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15
Nate Lowman
Orders From Corporate (Randall's Island?)
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
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16
Ugo Rondinone
ACHTERFEBRUARZWEITAUSENDUNDSIEBEN (February 8, 2007)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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17
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18
Alex Israel
Untitled (Flat)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $221,000
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19
Neil Jenney
Atmosphere
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $100,000
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20
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Red Sea
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
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21
Thomas Struth
Todai-Ji Interior, Nara
Estimate $120,000 - 180,000
Sold for $110,000
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22
Ghada Amer
Grey Iman
Estimate $70,000 - 100,000
Sold for $81,250
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23
Michel Majerus
MoM block Nr. 88
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $43,750
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24
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25
Franz West
Divan (Prototype)
Estimate $70,000 - 100,000
Sold for $75,000
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26
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
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27
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate $180,000 - 220,000
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New Now Evening Sale

New York Auction 29 February 2016 6pm

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

16

Ugo Rondinone

ACHTERFEBRUARZWEITAUSENDUNDSIEBEN (February 8, 2007)

New Now Evening Sale

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