Yumiko Utsu - Photographs London Wednesday, May 20, 2015 | Phillips

Photographs

London 21 May 2015 4pm

  • Literature

    Y. Utsu, Out of Ark, Tokyo: Artbeat Publishers, 2009, p. 2

  • Catalogue Essay

    In her delightfully bizarre Octopus Portrait, Yumiko Utsu combines an octopus, a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, with a Victorian-era portrait painting. The head of the sitter is cunningly replaced with an upside down octopus, its arms precisely placed to resemble eyes and a hairdo. Utsu draws inspiration from the highly influential Czech animator Jan Švankmajer whose surreal films use food as a metaphor for sexual desire. Utsu’s works have been exhibited internationally and are held in various collections, including the Charles Saatchi Collection, London and the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Geneva.

ULTIMATE CONTEMPORARY

48

Yumiko Utsu

Octopus Portrait

2009
Chromogenic print, flush-mounted, in the artist's frame.
54.5 x 44.5 cm (21 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.); overall 64.5 x 54.3 cm (25 3/8 x 21 3/8 in.)
Signed, titled, dated and numbered AP2 in ink on a Certificate of Authenticity label affixed to the reverse of the frame.

This work is AP2 from the sold-out edition of 7 + 2 AP.

Estimate
£4,000 - 6,000 ‡

Contact Specialist
Lou Proud
Head of Photographs
London
+ 44 207 318 4018

Photographs

London 21 May 2015 4pm