Lot 475
  • 475

Rudolf Stingel

Estimate
700,000 - 1,000,000 USD
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Description

  • Rudolf Stingel
  • Untitled
  • signed and dated 2004 on the reverse
  • oil and enamel on canvas
  • 70 7/8 by 59 1/4 in. 179.8 by 150.5 cm.

Provenance

Private Collection (acquired directly from the artist in 2004)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Condition

This work is in excellent condition overall. There is evidence of minor wear and handling along the edges and corners of the canvas. The surface texture and pigment variations are inherent to the artist's working method. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Unframed.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

 “For nearly twenty years Rudolf Stingel has made work that seduces the eye whilst also upending most notions of what, exactly, constitutes a painting, how it should be made and by whom.”
Roberta Smith, "Making Their Mark", The New York Times, 13 October 2007, online Executed in 2004, Untitled is a consummate example of Rudolf Stingel's celebrated series of Instruction paintings. A body of work started shortly after Stingel's move to New York City in 1987, the series compellingly challenged accepted notions of authorship in painting. The present work embodies that legacy, using material and process to enact an investigation into the tenets of image making.

Untitled's rich, silvery surface is together both reductive and maximalist, demonstrating Stingel's awareness of the art historical legacies of periods as diverse as the Byzantine, Baroque, Modernism and Minimalism. Stingel began painting at a time when painting had already been proclaimed dead, and the appropriation and questioning of gender and identity norms had become standard in art. Stingel was a part, along with the artists Christopher Wool and Albert Oehlen, of a Post-Modern reappraisal of these legacies, and of the role of art and the artist in society.  

It is during this charged moment that Stingel embarked on his Instruction paintings. The series simultaneously undermines the most basic assumptions about painting while insisting on the relevance of the medium. Stingel's Instruction paintings rely on a unique technique that involves the layering of thickly applied oil paint, tulle netting, and metallic silver paint. Removing the netting after the final layer of paint has been applied, the surface takes on the textured appearance of the tulle; this process is what gives the Instruction paintings their characteristic aesthetic. This focus on process and material is paired with Stingel's conceptual approach to the making of paintings, in which he questions the authorship of the painter. The Instruction paintings took on a radically new meaning with the artist’s decision in 1989 to reveal his signature production process by publishing a step-by-step manual detailing his technique so that it could be recreated by anyone. This radical gesture served to destabilize long accepted notions of authorship and originality.

Stingel’s decision to make his technique publicly available, as well as his partnership with spectators in the production of his later celotex works, challenged established preconceptions about art-making, shifting the emphasis from the artist to the production process of the work and indeed to the object itself. Untitled, with its articulated folds and its unpainted lower edge, is an excellent example of this series, directly hinting at the painting’s physical origins.