Vaughn Spann - New Now New York Wednesday, March 3, 2021 | Phillips

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  • Vaughn Spann on his Dalmatian Series


    Sasha Bogojev: Let’s talk about the Dalmatian series. What is that one about? We keep hearing about art being about current times or times we live in, artists needing to work from a subjective position, and things like that.


    Vaughn Spann: So, I'm really interested in speaking about the work through the lens in which I exist as a person, and as a black man, in particular, also, the ways I experience the world as a westerner and US citizen. Growing up in an urban city, concrete jungle, per se, when I think about the neighborhood, one thing I noticed is that people had animals. They would have dogs that would protect or guard their homes and domestic spaces. They were usually rugged animals, like German shepherds and such. So, these are experiences I have from my youth. As an artist, I got caught up thinking about these ideas of class, social aspects, ethnicity, and all these higher notions; so, every time I'd see Dalmatians, they would be associated with things around wealth, desire, those markers of money and class. They were also part of the entertainment industry, so a firefighter in a TV show would have a Dalmatian, so I kept wondering, ‘Where does this exist?! This is not the America I know!’ It was something very micro that meant so much to me. So, I was always interested in the ways I was fed these false social realities that don't really exist for me as a person.


    Sasha Bogojev, "The Rising Star: Vaughn Spann Has Arrived", Juxtapoz Arts & Culture Magazine, March 26, 2019, online (illustrated) 

    • Provenance

      Half Gallery, Los Angeles
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Literature

      Sasha Bogojev, "The Rising Star: Vaughn Spann Has Arrived", Juxtapoz Arts & Culture Magazine, March 26, 2019, online (illustrated)
      Ipek Temizkan, "On the Trail of Thoughts and Feelings: Vaughn Spann", Bant Mag, September 22, 2020, online (illustrated)

    • Artist Biography

      Vaughn Spann

      Vaughn Spann is an American contemporary artist whose practice explores the natures of space, memory, and time using the ostensibly competing languages of abstraction and figuration. Approaching his work through traditional formalistic lenses focusing on line, color, and shape, Spann locates subjects from deeply personal spaces and articulates their essences on the painted surface, using metaphysical reflections to question our experiencing of the world around us.

      Spann uses painting to recreate encounters with people and places he finds compelling, gauging their essences when viewed through in retrospect. His experimentations with unconventional materials augments his explorations of personal and historical narratives. Spann lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut, where he also received his MFA from Yale University.

       
      View More Works

3

Dalmatian (No. 3)

signed, titled and dated "Vaughn Spann 2018 "Dalmatian (No. 3)"" on the reverse
terrycloth, fabric, tape, adhesive and acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 in. (152.4 x 152.4 cm)
Executed in 2018.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000 

Sold for $138,600

Contact Specialist

Patrizia Koenig
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now Sale
20th Century & Contemporary Art pkoenig@phillips.com

New Now

New York Auction 3 March 2021