By Carter B. Horsley
The Contemporary Art auction at Phillips de Pury November 12 and 13, 2009 is highlighted by an impressive painting by Yayoi Kusuma, a Brillo box by Warhol, a very good Gilbert & George work, works of considerable humor by Carroll Dunham, Jules de Balincourt and Shi Lifeng, and good sculptures by Tony Cragg, Katja Strunz and Fred Sandback.
Lot 9 is a large acrylic on canvas by Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) entitled "Infinity Nets (T.W.A.)." It measures 76 1/4 by 102 inches and was executed in 2000.
The catalogue provides the following commentary:
"Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto City, Japan in 1929 and she passed her crucial years of early adolescence while her country was at war. During this time, Kusama recollects experiencing her first hallucinations that have plagued her throughout her life. During these hallucinations Kusama sees the world broken up into patterns or completely covered in dots. Kusama credits these hallucinations as being a source for her artistic vision and the genesis of the Infinity Nets. Kusama was trained in Nihonga painting, a rigorous formal style developed during the Meiji period (1868-1912) that combines traditional Janpanese techniques and materials with nineteenth century European representivative subject matter. By 1950 she began to experiment with more abstracted natural forms and in the years that followed started to develop the patterns of the Infinity Nets from motifs based on natural observation into autonomous abstraction....Kusama produced her first astonishing Infinity Net paintings, vast canvases entirely covered in rhythmic undulations of small, thickly painted loops, in 1959."
"I feel as if I were driving on the highways or carried on a conveyor belt without ending until my death. This is like continuing to drink thousands of cups of coffee or eating thousands of feet of macaroni," the artist is quoted as stating in the catalogue entry.
The entry also provides the following commentary by L. Hoptman from "Yayoi Kusama, London, 2000":
"Kusama has described obsession with the use of this pattern as a means of self-annihilation, however, her unceasing ability to create sublime beauty with this pattern is a re-affirmation of her persona. It has been said of many artists that they are inseparable from their work, but never has that been more literally and visually true than with Kusama. As the artist, who even often dresses herself to blend in to her paintings, has brought this intensely personal signature, which is linked to her very psychological make-up, to become 'her alter ego, her logo, her franchise and her weapon of incursion into the world at large."
It has an estimate of $300,000 to $400,000. It sold for $842,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article. Of the 40 lots offered for sale in the evening auction, 31 sold for $7,099,250 including premiums, almost exactly in the middle of its pre-sale estimates without premiums.
Lot 16 is a painted plywood box entitled "Brillo Soap Pads Box" by Andy Warhol (1928-1987). It measures 17 by 17 by 14 inches and was created in 1964. It has an estimate of $700,000 to $900,000. It sold for $842,500.
Lot 10, "Spell of Sweating," is a fine work by Gilbert & George (b. 1943 and 1942) that consists of 15 hand colored photographs. It measues 89 by 125 inches overall and was created in 1998. It has an estimate of $180,000 to $250,000. It sold for $206,500.
Lot 40 is a delightful work by Carroll Dunham (b. 1949) entitled "Another Island" whose cartoon-like motif is reminiscent of Philip Guston and Red Grooms. An acrylic, enamel, pastel and pencil on linen, it measures 60 by 77 inches and was executed in 1989-1999.
"The phallus-nosed character is the most well known of Dunham's forms. He is a wanderer through mountains of trash, a sailor peering through the landscape of dirt and waste. We don't know whether he is lost or doomed, or simply without purpose or end. His company on this journey, the second figure, is strange and unsettling, rounded shapes penetrate the silhouette and we suddenly recognize hints of luscious lips, a supple breast, and chattering teeth. She is partially submerged in water, wading her way along their journey, while he floats in this make-shift boat and peers into the distance. They are perhaps the actors on the stage of sexual conflict amidst warfare or disaster."
It has an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It sold for $104,500.
Another work of momentous imagery is Lot 39, "Ambitious New Plans," by Jules de Balincourt (b. 1972). An oil on board, it measures 40 1/8 by 59 3/4 inches and was executed in 2005. It has an estimte of $50,000 to $70,000. It sold for $119,500.
Lot 35 is a very graceful and striking wall sculpture by Katja Strunz (b. 1970) consisting of three separate wooden pieces and measuring 68 by 29 by 5 1/2 inches overall. The untitled work was created in 2005. It has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. It sold for $27,500.
Lot 29 is a large, untitled abstraction by Albert Oehlen (b. 1954). An oil, metallic paint and varnish on canvas, it measures 95 by 79 inches and was executed in 1989. It has an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $194,500.
Lot 31, "Paysage ave Lac (Landscape with Lake), is an impressive and large work by Tony Cragg (b. 1949). It is made of oil stick on found wood and found metal and measures 82 by 99 by 64 inches and was created in 1985.
"This series of work was inspired by memories Cragg had of driving, noticing shapes as they pass by, some standing out and others constantly blurred or shifting along the horizon. The scribblies all over the surface function like a map tracing the rapid motion of the eye as it gazes out of the window and follows the passing objects. The forms transform before our eyes into things our memories recognize: the shape of a building, the silhouette of a tree, the outline of a lake. The dichotomy of reinventing materials, yet recalling old memories is a truly fascinating and unparalleled concept. Lanscape with Lake is a formation of something foreshadowed in the mind, but that does not actually exist in the natural world. "
It has an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 161 is a fine oil on paper laid down on masonite by Willem de Kooning (1904-1997). Entitled "Bewitched Woman," it measures 29 7/8 by 11 inches and was created in 1965. It has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 160 is a very good untitled ink wash and crayon on paper by Arshile Gorky (1904-1948). It measures 11 by 8 1/2 inches and was executed in 1946. It has a estimte of $35,000 to $45,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 159 is a sumi ink and graphite on paper by Willem de Kooning (1904-1997). Entitled "Woman Study," it measures 10 3/4 by 8 1/2 inches and was created in 1959. It has an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 124 is a rather delicate composition of 23 karat gold on cut paper by Jim Hedges (b. 1957). It measures 16 by 22 inches and was created in 2004. It has an estimate of $35,000 to $45,000. It sold for $50,000.
Lot 280 is a lively and colorful abstraction that is reminiscent of small of Willem de Kooning's late works. It is an oil and acrylic on canvas by Sue Williams (b. 1954) and is entitled "Shoes Take a Backseat (Green, Orange and Blue). It measures 96 1/8 by 104 1/2 inches and was executed in 1998. It has an estimate of $45,000 to $65,000. It failed to sell.
One of the auction's more striking works is Lot 320, "Paternity Test (Self-portrait with parents)," by Inigo Manglano-Ovalle (b. 1961). It is a triptych of three photographs mounted to Plexiglas, each 70 by 20 inches. It was executed in 1999 and is part of the artist's DNA-Portrait series. The catalogue notes that the artist uses "genomic technology to critique the infamous tradition ofcasta (caste) painting in eighteenth and ninetteenth-century Spain." "During that time," the entry continued, "Spanish colonials commissioned casta paintings to illystrate the different racial 'mixtures' that were developing in the New World. Himself a Spanish immigrant, Manglano-Ovalle's work frequently explores issues of race and acculturation in the United States. It has an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. It sold for $16,250.
One of the more humorous works in the auction is Lot 209, "Ferry To Happiness," by Shi Lifeng (b. 1968). An oil on canvas, it measures 52 by 70 inches and was executed in 2006. A very animated take on "Washington Crossing the Delaware," its bright red figures practically leap off the boat and canvas. It has a modest estimate of $7,000 to $9,000. It sold for $11,500.
Lot 341 is a fine work by Will Cotton (b. 1965) entitled "Insatiable." An oil on canvas that measures 56 1/4 by 84 inches, it was painted in 1996. The central figure in the painting appears to have consumed all the deserts ever painted by Wayne Thiebaud and is very content and ready for more! The lot has an estimate of $25,000 to $35,000. It failed to sell.
One of the most beautiful works in the auction is Lot 224, "World #8," a C-print mounted to aluminum wiith Plexiglas face by Rund van Empel (b. 1968). It measures 41 5/8 by 59 3/8 inches and was created in 2006. It has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $68,500.