Israel Lund

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner 

Colour: The colour in the catalogue is fairly accurate, although the background tends towards a more brilliant white and the overall tonality is more vibrant in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
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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."

“Photographs can reduce, detract, fragment, frame, flatten. Photographic reproduction  of my work can only be imprecise. Finally, if there is such a thing as the ‘reality’ of photography, it is never the same as the ‘reality’ of the work photographed, and we are not concerned here with overcoming this gap.”

Daniel Buren quoted in: Israel Lund: Tumblr, 8 December 2012, online resource.

Israel Lund’s works are silkscreen prints of photographs of his paintings. With each series, the artist revisits previous works and explores them in different colours, sizes, and combinations. Of course, there is the starting point, when Lund squeezes black ink directly onto a blank silkscreen to create a roughly articulated composition; however, his practice is matured to the extent that the original is now long forgotten. With each further series, and each further work, the silkscreen deteriorates slightly, imperfections and variations permeate the surface, and each layer becomes further out of kilter with the last. The mutations from iteration to iteration are only minute but their cumulative effect pollutes the work so that the only discernible subject is the process, the previous work, and the unspoken suggestion of works to follow.  

Aesthetically, it is easy to draw comparisons to the abstract work of Gerhard Richter. Meanwhile, Wade Guyton, for whom Lund was a studio assistant, is a clear influence in the use of large-scale printing. However, the works are above all self-referential. In undoubted homage to the Internet Age that has inspired and informed Lund, their glory is in their implication of infinite possibility. As the reciprocity of the reproduction becomes exponential, the power of the visual variance increases, and the intensity of artistic expression is distilled.