Arturo Herrera (b. 1959)

Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner

This work is in very good condition overall and is ready to hang.
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.

"Among Herrera's most sensual works to date are his recent cut-felt wall pieces, which he began to create in 1998 after a few earlier experiments. While working in his studio on the rendering of "dripping" in a small collage, the artist decided to create a work that would at once dwarf the viewer and enhance the tactile aspect of the drip, thereby suggesting the experience of the sublime. Felt offered just that possibility. It is material that can easily be cut with an X-acto knife, and like the paper collages, it leaves no threads hanging. He could use felt the size of a blanket to create a version of painterly drip paintings that would hang on the wall, suggestive of high modernism and the sublime romanticism of some abstract expressionism, while at the same time distancing itself from that project. The perfectly incised and cut red, blue, brown, or black works are paintings without paint, emblematic markers of high art, but despite their tactility and the intensity of their color, they always and inevitably droop slightly at the bottom, as if falling from grace."

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Curator