Lot 3451* - A209 PostWar & Contemporary - Thursday, 20. June 2024, 02.00 PM
KATHARINA GROSSE
(Freiburg im Breisgau 1961–lives and works in Berlin)
Untitled. 2000.
Acrylic on canvas.
Signed, dated and with the work number: Kath Gro 2000 2000/1031L.
200 × 284 cm.
Provenance:
- Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia, aquired from the above gallery.
"Big, bigger, Grosse". The headline in the Austrian newspaper Kurier in 2014 for Katharina Grosse's impressive installation at the Kunsthaus Graz still says it all: because if this artist remains true to one thing, it is the large format. And her spray gun. Katharina Grosse has been working with a compressor-powered spray gun on her wall pieces, installations and studio works since 1998. Over the years, the installations created in this way have become increasingly complex and are not only located indoors, such as the one at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin in 2020, but also outdoors, for example in New York, Munich or Toronto. While she often works from a lifting platform for her room-sized installations and is an expert at attending to both the detail and the overall effect of her work, she is equally adept at condensing her visions onto the considerably smaller medium of the canvas. Her Studio Paintings were last shown in Switzerland in a major solo exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Bern in 2023.
Offered here at auction is a dazzling work from 2000 which would have fitted in wonderfully with this series and would have attracted some admiration in its own right, commanding attention as it does with its incredible presence in the room. The striking effect of the colour, with which we are familiar from Grosse's virtuoso installations of recent years, is present in this work in a very concentrated form and casts an almost magnetic spell over the viewer. The carefully composed tiers of colour in the picture oscillate between transparency and opacity and were created through the ingenious use of various colourants and tools: up close, we recognise both the artist's large dynamic brushstrokes and the delicate application of sprayed paint, which merge seamlessly into an impressive whole. The viewer's gaze is absorbed by the billowing and overlapping clouds of intense magenta, gold, rosé and violet tones and through the use of iridescent colours remains spellbound by the search for ever new chromatic impressions. Every time we look at this work, it reveals new perspectives, new depths of colour, eliciting awe and wonder again and again. Every time we look at this work, it reveals new perspectives, new depths of colour, eliciting awe and wonder again and again. Furthermore - we observe: the work of Katharine Grosse always provokes a smile when we pass by.
Offered here at auction is a dazzling work from 2000 which would have fitted in wonderfully with this series and would have attracted some admiration in its own right, commanding attention as it does with its incredible presence in the room. The striking effect of the colour, with which we are familiar from Grosse's virtuoso installations of recent years, is present in this work in a very concentrated form and casts an almost magnetic spell over the viewer. The carefully composed tiers of colour in the picture oscillate between transparency and opacity and were created through the ingenious use of various colourants and tools: up close, we recognise both the artist's large dynamic brushstrokes and the delicate application of sprayed paint, which merge seamlessly into an impressive whole. The viewer's gaze is absorbed by the billowing and overlapping clouds of intense magenta, gold, rosé and violet tones and through the use of iridescent colours remains spellbound by the search for ever new chromatic impressions. Every time we look at this work, it reveals new perspectives, new depths of colour, eliciting awe and wonder again and again. Every time we look at this work, it reveals new perspectives, new depths of colour, eliciting awe and wonder again and again. Furthermore - we observe: the work of Katharine Grosse always provokes a smile when we pass by.
CHF 180 000 / 250 000 | (€ 185 570 / 257 730)
Sold for CHF 225 000 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.