Rudolf Stingel

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Colours: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although it fails to fully convey the textured and reflective quality of the surface, apparent in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Light stretcher marks are visible running along the horizontal edges. There are two minute indentations towards the centre of the lower half of the composition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Rudolf Stingel's oeuvre is dedicated to exploring the physical and metaphorical limits of painting. The delicate textural Untitled emits a burnished silvery glow resonating an optical intensity and total absorption comparable to a Rothko's Colour-field paintings.  The surface seduces the viewer, ever changing under the roaming and inquisitive eye, enfolding via an exquisite opalescent schema of silver tonality undulated with yellow hues. 

Created as part of Stingel's early series of Silver paintings, the expressive painterly quality of the surface is drolly undercut by the limited edition book published by the artist in 1989, Instructions.  In this publication, Stingel deconstructs the mythic artistry and technical production of his Silver paintings through a step-by-step instruction guide and technical manual. By exposing his painterly process, Stingel wittily strips himself of the gravitas attached to expressionistic painters and quells the supposed mysticism of 'painterliness'.  Nonetheless, conflating this de-mystification with the absolute principles of the European Monochromists, such as Yves Klein and Piero Manzoni, Stingel approaches painting as an access to a certain rudimentary truth.  Fundamentally the painted surface is conceived as a symbolic plane, an elemental epidermis that testifies to the reality of the world.  Redolent of the sceptical queries of painters such as Christopher Wool, whilst calling upon the use of Warholian materials of industry, Stingel brings into question a vast weight of art history, through a work that ironically maintains an immense formal beauty despite its conceptual subversion of precedent.