Nina Simone Childhood Home: Benefit Auction Co-Presented by the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and Pace Gallery | Hosted by Sotheby’s
Nina Simone Childhood Home: Benefit Auction Co-Presented by the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and Pace Gallery | Hosted by Sotheby’s
Rashid Johnson
Bruise Painting "Nina's Blues"
Lot Closed
May 22, 07:03 PM GMT
Estimate
650,000 - 700,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Bruise Painting "Nina's Blues"
Executed in 2023.
Signed on the right side of the stretcher and on the reverse.
Oil on linen.
48 x 36 x 1 11/16 in. (121 9/10 x 91 2/5 x 4 3/10 cm.)
Framed: 49 1/8 × 37 1/8 in. (124 4/5 × 94 3/10 cm.)
© Rashid Johnson. Courtesy of Rashid Johnson. Photographer: Stephanie Powell
Please note that while this auction is hosted on Sothebys.com, it is being administered by Pace Gallery, and all post-sale matters (inclusive of invoicing and property pickup/shipment) will be handled by Pace Gallery. As such, Sotheby’s will share the contact details for the winning bidders with Pace Gallery so that they may be in touch directly post-sale.
Acquired from the artist's studio.
Rashid Johnson’s Bruise Painting “Nina’s Blues” (2023) is a part of the artist’s Bruise Paintings series. Begun in 2021, this series is a transition from Johnson’s series of red works, The Anxious Red paintings. All made in 2020, in this series, there is a sense of urgency, anxiety, and even dread. The artist’s scrawled marks form what can be interpreted as crowds of anxious abstract faces. The Bruise Paintings, on the other hand, have a sense of calm sadness. Johnson’s marks have a lyrical feel. The paintings are composed of mostly one blue, “Black&Blue,” a hue of Johnson’s creation in collaboration with R&F paints. Johnson layers and stretches the paint across the canvas, allowing one color to seem like many. Crowds of abstract faces fill these canvases, but instead of anxiety, there is a feeling of melancholy. “Bruise” suggests a liminal space where healing has begun, but the remnants of trauma are still evident.