- 125
Miguel Barceló
Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Miguel Barceló
- Comme en Mars avec Escargot
- signed, titled and dated IV, 07 on the reverse
- oil and mixed media on canvas
- 118 by 131cm.; 46 1/2 by 51 1/2 in.
Provenance
Bischofberger/Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
Hong Kong, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Miquel Barceló: Recent Paintings, Ceramics and Sculptures, 2011, p. 33, illustrated in colour
Condition
Colour:
The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is brighter and more vibrant in the original. The catalogue illustration fails to fully convey the thickest areas of impasto and the protruding element in the lower right corner.
Condition:
This work is in very good condition. There is light wear to the lower left corner tip. Examination under ultra-violet light reveals no traces of restoration.
"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."
"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."
Catalogue Note
A perfect embodiment of Miquel Barceló’s practice from the mid to late 2000s, Comme en Mars avec Escargot erupts from the canvas to reveal Barceló's sensuous commitment to the materialism of painting. Built from rich earthy surfaces sensitively layered with pure pigment, natural materials and collaged elements, it presents the viewer with a powerful elliptical expanse, depicting a protruding encephalic shape, as its central focus.
Executed at the height of Barceló’s illustrious career and international recognition - in recent years, Barceló's ascendant reputation has precipitated numerous commissions, museum acquisitions and exhibitions in major institutions worldwide, prominently including the monumental ceiling work for the Human Rights Room at the UN headquarters in Geneva in 2008 – Comme en Mars avec Escargot is loaded with the artist’s recurrent themes of art historical appropriation and demonstrates once again his vital and indispensable impulse for painting. Indeed, the current lot lies within his practice in an expansion of his earlier interest in dialoguing with and borrowing a still life iconography from the 16th and 17th century Spanish painting. The reference to food, recurrent in his titles, is still present but has now imploded to be fused with the visceral, with the bodily itself: “It is a skull seen from the back, like a planet, such as Mars. The snail is meant to indicate the difference in size and the macrocephalic aspect.” (The artist quoted in the exhibition catalogue of Miquel Barceló: Recent Paintings, Ceramics and Sculpture, Hong Kong 2011, p. 32)
“Barceló became a young chef of painting who not only had learned the recipes of the Great Masters but had also improvised his own” (Pep Subiros, “Return from Africa” in Miquel Barceló 1987-1997, Barcelona 1998, p. 17).
Executed at the height of Barceló’s illustrious career and international recognition - in recent years, Barceló's ascendant reputation has precipitated numerous commissions, museum acquisitions and exhibitions in major institutions worldwide, prominently including the monumental ceiling work for the Human Rights Room at the UN headquarters in Geneva in 2008 – Comme en Mars avec Escargot is loaded with the artist’s recurrent themes of art historical appropriation and demonstrates once again his vital and indispensable impulse for painting. Indeed, the current lot lies within his practice in an expansion of his earlier interest in dialoguing with and borrowing a still life iconography from the 16th and 17th century Spanish painting. The reference to food, recurrent in his titles, is still present but has now imploded to be fused with the visceral, with the bodily itself: “It is a skull seen from the back, like a planet, such as Mars. The snail is meant to indicate the difference in size and the macrocephalic aspect.” (The artist quoted in the exhibition catalogue of Miquel Barceló: Recent Paintings, Ceramics and Sculpture, Hong Kong 2011, p. 32)
“Barceló became a young chef of painting who not only had learned the recipes of the Great Masters but had also improvised his own” (Pep Subiros, “Return from Africa” in Miquel Barceló 1987-1997, Barcelona 1998, p. 17).