Paintings by Ghenie, Gnoli and Stingel lead Phillips 20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled, 2014
Estimate: £1,000,000 - 1,500,000
LONDON – 20 JUNE 2016 – Phillips is pleased to announce the Evening sale of 20th Century and Contemporary Art which will take place on 27 June 2016 at 7pm, and which will be led by important paintings by Rudolf Stingel, Domenico Gnoli and Adrian Ghenie. The evening auction will offer 31 lots and will also include works by Anselm Kiefer, Joan Miró, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Raqib Shaw, among others. The sale is expected to realize a combined total of £10.21 million to £14.96 million. The 20th Century and Contemporary Art Day Sale will take place on 28 June and will offer 189 lots with a combined pre-sale estimate of £5.29 million to £7.66 million. Further details, including the online catalogues, can be found here.
Rudolf Stingel’s fascinating Untitled (illustrated above, estimate: £1,000,000 - 1,500,000) is among the top lots of the evening sale. Untitled asserts itself as one of the latest examples of the artist’s eagerly sought-after series of carpet works and a shimmering exploration of space, pattern and texture. Swirling imprints and lively vines dominate the ornate textile relief, pierced by small and unique deviations, leaving room for a sense of painterly accident. Amidst the brilliance of the magenta hue and iridescent silver, imprints of medallions and floral motifs emerge, evoking the Baroque tapestries that inspired Stingel during his childhood in Italian Tyrol and Vienna. By applying paint through a stencil, Stingel produces a work that is at once both democratic and decadent, an ode to the artistic and the industrial.
Both Untitled and Untitled (Topolino) (illustrated right, estimate: £700,000 - 1,000,000) may be some of the most open and brave moments in recent contemporary art production. Completed in 2002, Untitled (Topolino) invites the viewer inside the surface of his work, and allows anyone to make a 'contribution' to it. The critical voice of the viewer becomes part of the work as Stingel records the viewer’s reaction to his work – not simply verbally, but physically. Offering the pristine silver surface to the emotional instinct of any viewer, the work is transformed into a vessel with which the audience can complain or express satisfaction, not simply about the artist’s work, but about anything one wishes.
Domenico Gnoli’s Inside of Lady’s Shoe, 1969 (illustrated left, estimate: £1,000,000 - 1,500,000) is maybe one of the more daring of Gnoli’s works. The viewer has to struggle to find their position and point view in relation to the painting. Once you find it, then the space is magically revealed. This is one of the rare cases where Gnoli escapes his often limiting, almost cartoonish style to achieve the revealing talent of a conceptual painter. The painting shows a whole universe, an abstract space, a form through which the viewer can see Gnoli’s experimental attitude towards the world of images; extracting details and giving them a life of their own.
Anselm Kiefer’s visually complex and multivalent work, Für Velimir Khlebnikov: Die Lehre vom Krieg: Seeschlachten (illustrated below left, estimate: £500,000 - 700,000), is from a series of 30, all revolving around the quixotic work of famed Russian poet and Futurist Velimir Khlebnikov (1895-1922). This canvas, heaving with matter, possesses the characteristic turbid and highly worked surface of the artist’s work. Heavy impasto layers of burnt umber, smoky charcoal and black, alive with unseen forces, surround a handmade lead submarine, perched precariously amidst the turbulent seas.
Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Violet Dog (illustrated below center, estimate: £400,000 - 600,000), is an example of his early mirrors, which are considered the best example of a transition from a more classical generation of artists into the vanguard of the new languages and material. With the genial intuition to substitute the canvas with a mirror he has been able to create a third dimension.
Adrian Ghenie’s Untitled (illustrated below right, estimate: £350,000 - 450,000) is part of a pivotal period for the artist, during which he began to embrace color rather than grisaille. By using bold lines against different hues, this work draws a complex and rich portrait of the human condition. Ghenie’s brushwork, which is quickly and spontaneously applied to the surface, reveals an agitated movement. This abbreviated manner of the figure’s execution further lends to Ghenie’s interplay on the difference between light and shade; the positive and the negative.
WORKS OF ART FROM THE COLLECTION TO BE INCLUDED IN THE
20TH CENTURY & CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING SALE
Mimmo Rotella
8 Sopra, 1960
Estimate: £300,000 - 500,000
Joan Miró
Femme, Oiseau, Etoile, 1943
Estimate: £400,000 - 600,000
Leon Kossoff
Portrait of Chaim II, 1987
Estimate: £200,000 - 300,000
Auction: Monday, 27 June 2016, 7pm BST
Auction viewing: 20 – 27 June | Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm
Location: 30 Berkeley Square, London
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*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium; prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium.
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