Sean Landers

Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Some water damage to sheets at upper right corner. Pinholes to sheets at corners. Tape residue at corners. Minor foxing/stains to paper.
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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.

The written word is strategically vital to Sean Landers' work; often integrated with subtlety into his compositions, but more frequently dominating the content. Through Landers' engagement with text and language, he embarks on an emotional catharsis. His early confessional art (from the 1990s) centers around text and includes letters to his student loan officer and cartoons ridiculing the art world. The present work is a prime example from this period, which consists of all twelve monthly calendar pages from 1992. It is a stream-of-consciousness document of neuroses, tasks and complaints for each day of that year, which typifies his role as master chronicler, clown and confessor.

Landers highlights the importance of text and language in his work from these earlier years in an interview from 2004, "...at this time I felt that my writing was, in a sense, 'the drawing' or 'the picture.' The burst of emotion on the page, with all of its imperfect spelling, grammar and emotional penmanship was 'the thing.'" Indeed, the artist's cathartic, spontaneous writing conveys a sense of flawed humanity, which lures the viewer. Landers' later iconic paintings, such as LUCK, FEAR, REGRET (2003) and BECOMING GREAT (2001), remain anchored by a central confessional theme as developed in the works on paper from the 1990s.