Dan Colen

Private Collection, New York
Private Collection, Venezuela

This work is in very good condition overall. There is evidence of light wear and handling to the sides and edges of the canvas, particularly in the corners where some light surface soiling is present. Framed under Plexiglas.
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.
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Untitled (Kiss Painting) is an exquisite example of Dan Colen’s artistic reflection and exploration of the fleeting beauty of a moment and the ephemeral nature of love. To create the Kiss paintings, Colen had one woman wearing varying shades of Chanel lipstick plant each kiss on the canvas in very precise spots, at regular intervals and with varying pressure to create an undulating web of pink, red and purple kiss marks. Much like the Gum and Flower paintings, the Kiss paintings engender a dichotomy of presence and absence: both processes require physical engagement and participation, yet in the final product we see only an imprint or mark of that interaction. Unique to the Kiss paintings are qualities of intimacy, tenderness and affection which are rarely seen in Colen’s oeuvre.

The proliferation of kisses in this series perhaps stands as a tribute to Oscar Wilde’s notorious grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where admiring visitors pay their respects to the literary master by placing lipstick-stained kisses on his tomb. The result, much to the chagrin of Père Lachaise staff, is a tangled, graffitied network of kisses, showering the famously flamboyant writer with admiration and love, which is visually analogous to the present painting. As Wilde wrote in his 1893 dark comedy A Woman of No Importance, and as the story behind this painting is testament, “a kiss may ruin a human life."