Global Icons, Local Spotlight: Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer @ Portland Art Museum

Global Icons, Local Spotlight: Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer

Portland Art Museum

September 6, 2025 – January 11, 2026

Jeff Koons, American, (b. 1955)

Gazing Ball (da Vinci Mona Lisa), edition 38/40, 2016

Archival pigment print with inlaid mirrored glass

40 11/16 x 27 3/4 in. Overall

Published by Two Palms, New York, NY

Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer

© Jeff Koons

Photography Courtesy of the artist and Two Palms, NY

Dinh Q. Lê, Vietnamese-American, (1968 - 2024)

I am Large, I Contain Multitudes, edition AP 1/1, 2009

Bicycle, steel, mirrors, wood, plastic, rubber, and metal lock

72 x 90 x 40 in. Overall, 90 x 106 1/2 x 57 in. Crate

Published by the artist

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

© Courtesy of Elizabeth Leach Gallery and the Dinh Q. Lê Estate

Photography Aaron Wessling

Amy Sherald, American, (b. 1973)

As Soft as She Is..., edition 2/35, 2024

70-color screenprint on Lana Aquarelle 600 gsm

50 5/8 x 42 3/8 x 1 3/4 in. Frame, 

45 1/4 x 37 in. Sheet, 40 1/4 x 32 in. Image

Published by Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

© Amy Sherald. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Photography Aaron Wessling

Portland Art Museum (PAM) presents Global Icons, Local Spotlight: Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer, an exhibition that shares works from Oregon’s foremost fine art collector by some of today’s leading artists with local Portland audiences.

Highlighting recent acquisitions from the collections of Jordan Schnitzer and his Family Foundation, the exhibition includes more than 75 works—some of which have never previously been exhibited—by celebrated artists of the 20th century, such as Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and Robert Rauschenberg, in addition to contemporary luminaries such as Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer, Mickalene Thomas, and Hank Willis Thomas.

Jordan Schnitzer, who has been named an ARTnews Top 200 art collector globally, is a lifelong Portland resident and local business owner. His collaboration with PAM to exhibit these collections is an extension of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation’s mission to share art with audiences across the globe.

“Instead of having to travel to New York City to go to the Museum of Modern Art or the Whitney, all you have to do is visit the Portland Art Museum to see exceptional artwork by some of today’s biggest artists," said Jordan Schnitzer. “Each year, when I collect new works, I think about how to share them with museums across the country through the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation exhibition program. My hope is that they will inspire audiences who might not otherwise have the opportunity to see works by these amazing artists.”

Jeffrey Gibson

Native American, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians 

and Cherokee, (b. 1972)

SPIRIT AND MATTER, 2023

Acrylic paint on elk hide inset in custom wood frame

90 x 72 1/2 x 5 in. Frame

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

© Jeffrey Gibson

Photography Aaron Wessling

Tschabalala Self, American, (b. 1990)

Untitled (Bodega Run), 2023

Unique cast and pigmented paper in artist designed frame

40 1/4 x 49 1/4 in. Sheet, 45 3/4 x 54 3/4 x 6 7/16 in. Frame

Published by Two Palms, New York, NY

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

Courtesy of the artist and Two Palms, NY

Photography Aaron Wessling

Katherine Bernhardt, American, (b. 1975)

Untitled, 2024

Monotype in watercolor and crayon

100 3/4 x 52 3/4 x 2 5/8 in. Frame, 96 x 48 in. Sheet

Published by Two Palms, New York, NY

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

Courtesy of the artist and Two Palms, NY

Photography Aaron Wessling

The exhibition features works across various media including paintings, textiles and tapestries, sculpture, photography, glass, ceramics, mixed media, and more, many of which will be shown publicly for the first time. Additional artists in the exhibition include Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Dinh Q. Lê, Julie Mehretu, and Tschabalala Self. The wide array of artists represented in this presentation includes numerous women, Native American and Black artists, and other artists of color, building on PAM’s own work to spotlight underrepresented artists who represent the myriad communities that comprise Oregon.

“Portland Art Museum is a vital cultural resource for the region, which is why we are thrilled to partner with the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation collection to provide our community more opportunities to access and find inspiration in the art that brings the world to Portland,” said Brian Ferriso, Director. “Jordan and his family have long been ardent supporters of the Museum and our city, and we are grateful for his collaboration with PAM to further our mission to engage and enrich Portland’s diverse communities through art.”

Nick Cave, American, (b. 1959)

Rescue, 2014

Mixed media including ceramic birds, metal flowers, 

ceramic Basset Hound, and vintage settee

70 x 50 x 40 in. Overall

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

© Nick Cave. Photo by James Prinz Photography 

Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Alison Saar, American, (b. 1956)

Plucked, 2022

Charcoal and acrylic on vintage cotton picking bag, 

found hooks and chain, 93 x 28 in. Overall

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

© Alison Saar. Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA.

Photography Aaron Wessling 

Christopher Myers, American, (b. 1974)

Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me, 2022

Stained glass lightboxes and tent

42 3/4 x 42 3/4 x 5 in. Frame

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

© Christopher Myers 2022 

Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York 

Photo by Dan Bradica

Other notable works in the exhibition include Christopher Myers' immersive and mesmerizing installation Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me, on view for only the second time since debuting at Art Basel Miami in 2022. Featured in the Museum’s grand Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Sculpture Court, the installation is a suite of stained glass paintings in lightboxes installed within a freestanding octagonal architectural structure, creating a chapel for contemplation of the illuminated compositions.

Several of the artists featured in the exhibition have previously exhibited works at PAM or are represented within PAM’s encyclopedic collection, including Hank Willis Thomas, with whom PAM organized a traveling solo exhibition in 2019, and Jeffrey Gibson, whose work PAM commissioned and exhibited at the Museum in 2023 before serving as co-commissioner for his exhibition for the U.S. Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Biennale).

PAM has also previously featured works from the collections of Jordan Schnitzer in its exhibitions including En Suite: Contemporary Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation (2001), Location/Dislocation: Recent Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation (2003), Minimalism/Postminimalism: Selections from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation (2007), Ellsworth Kelly Prints (and Paintings) (2012), Anish Kapoor: Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer (2015), Andy Warhol Prints (2016), Josiah McElheny’s Cosmic Love (2018), and Jeffrey Gibson: To Name An Other (2022).

This exhibition is organized by the Portland Art Museum in partnership with The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. 

ABOUT THE JORDAN SCHNITZER FAMILY FOUNDATION

Jordan Schnitzer 

Courtesy of Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation’s contemporary art collection is one of the most notable in North America. The Foundation has shared its art with millions across the U.S. and internationally through groundbreaking exhibitions, publications, and programs. Founded by ARTnews Top 200 Collector Jordan D. Schnitzer—whose passion for art began in his mother’s contemporary art gallery in Portland, Ore.—the Foundation has organized over 180 exhibitions from its collection and additionally loaned thousands of artworks to over 120 museums at no cost to the institutions. Jordan Schnitzer began collecting contemporary prints and multiples in 1988 and today is North America’s largest print collector. His Foundation’s collection consists of more than 22,000 works of art, including a wide variety of prints, sculptures, paintings, glass, and mixed media works.

PORTLAND ART MUSEUM - PAM

1219 SW Park Avenue Portland, OR 97205

portlandartmuseum.org

Laws of Motion @ Gagosian, San Francisco - Josh Kline, Jeff Koons, Cady Noland, Rosemarie Trockel, Jeff Wall, Anicka Yi

Josh Kline, Jeff Koons, Cady Noland, Rosemarie Trockel, Jeff Wall, Anicka Yi: Laws of Motion
Gagosian, San Francisco
January 14 – March 9, 2019

Anicka Yi, A Thousand Leaves, 2018

Silicone, maple, cane, Shoji paper, plexiglass, stainless steel, and LEDs

36 × 72 × 6 inches (91.4 × 182.9 × 15.2 cm)

© Anicka Yi, Courtesy Gagosian San Francisco

I want to fuse the writing of life—the notion that all living things have their own stories, contexts, perspectives, and histories—with the study of life, which also now includes an embrace of nonhuman perspectives.—Anicka Yi

Gagosian presents Laws of Motion, an exhibition of works by Josh Kline, Jeff Koons, Cady Noland, Rosemarie Trockel, Jeff Wall, and Anicka Yi. Laws of Motion debuted at Gagosian Hong Kong in November, and has since been expanded with additional works by Kline, Trockel, Wall, and Yi. Its title refers to Karl Marx’s application of scientific laws to systems of capital.

Forty years ago, the art of Jeff Koons, Cady Noland, Rosemarie Trockel, and Jeff Wall merged strategies of commercial display and formalism, isolating inherent social archetypes and stereotypes. Laws of Motion begins with key artworks from the 1970s that responded to a world saturated in the aesthetics and language of advertising, exploiting its techniques while making visible its latent and subconscious pull.

Jeff Koons’s paradigmatic series The New examines themes of domestic use and hygienic order, employing industrial readymades such as vacuum cleaners stacked and isolated in gleaming museum vitrines. The built-in obsolescence of domestic tools and consumer products contrasts with their aspirational qualities, raising philosophical questions of newness and desire. While Cady Noland’s assemblage of emptied beer bottles and a discarded mailbox conjures a potent image of American male delinquency, Rosemarie Trockel’s sculptures—electric burners mounted on the wall or placed on plinths—reduce or elevate a central symbol of domestic life to geometric abstraction, obliquely engaging a feminist discourse.

In the late 1970s, Jeff Wall began presenting photographs as light boxes, a format typically used for display advertising. Over the following decades, he created both epic and intimate images of the actions and accumulations of daily life. In Diagonal Composition (1993) and A wall in a former bakery (2003), Jeff Wall narrows in on banal and abject subject matter using formal harmony and rich chromatic detail.

With the onset of the digital age, the relationship between marketing, labor, and value has grown ever more symbiotic, just as the purity of art, media, and data becomes increasingly elusive. Recent works by Anicka Yi and Josh Kline identify updated manifestations of the heady consumerism of the 1980s. Anicka Yi engages the politics and personal resonance of chemicals, bacteria, and other ambient matter, in order to create moments of disequilibrium that underscore gender inequality, environmental degradation, and institutional mechanisms of power and control. For Immigrant Caucus (2017), she distilled a number of olfactory elements into spray cans, asking, “How do we imagine that immigrants, or foreigners, smell?” If You Want To Tame It, Re-Wild It and A Thousand Leaves (both 2018) are wall-hung grids and boards covered in what resembles an organic growth: mold or fungus, as though a clinically defined area has been turned into a breeding ground, inadvertently becoming something like abstract painting. The surface of each work is interspersed with shelves or openings through which light, hardware, or intricate woven forms can be seen, giving a previously unperceived depth to the rectangular board. For Deep State (2017) Anicka Yi made light boxes from photographs of bacterial cultures, the intricate organic patterns frozen mid-bloom or decay.

Body parts, pharmaceuticals, and sanitizing products pervade Josh Kline’s assemblages, installations, and videos, reflecting on the ways in which technology impacts humans. Riffing on familiar phrases, Shrugging it off and Sighs of the Times (both 2017) consist of monochromatic gray piles of rubble that suggest the potential consequences of automation and artificial intelligence on labor—namely, mass unemployment. In this sense, Josh Kline’s postapocalyptic assemblages function as punctuation marks to the excesses of the 1980s.

By manipulating systems of production, marketing, and display in art within the gallery setting, this cross-generational exhibition probes the similarities between the logic of market production and formalism itself. Over the past four decades, as technology has evolved, artists have changed their approaches to it and to the societal upheaval it has effected. Yet, despite the changing mechanisms of consumption, the human relationships to object and product remain startlingly similar.

GAGOSIAN, SAN FRANCISCO
657 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
gagosian.com

Jeff Koons @ Gagosian Gallery, New York

Jeff Koons, Gazing Ball Paintings
Gagosian Gallery, New York
November 9 - December 23, 2015

JEFF KOONS

Gazing Ball (Manet Luncheon on the Grass), 2014-2015

Oil on canvas, glass, and aluminum

63 x 81 1/4 x 14 3/4 inches

160 x 206.4 x 37.5 cm

© Jeff Koons Courtesy Gagosian Gallery/Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

Gagosian Gallery presents a new series of paintings by Jeff Koons entitled Gazing Ball.

In this series, Jeff Koons is in dialogue with artists of the past, such as Titian, El Greco, Courbet, and Manet, among others. The works deal with the power of artistic gesture. Each work has a blue glass gazing ball that sits on a painted aluminum shelf attached to the front of the painting. The viewer and the painting are reflected in the gazing ball. This metaphysical occurrence connects the viewer to a family of cultural history in real time. Through the simple act of placing a gazing ball in front of the images, painting and sculpture are reunited for maximum sensory perception, as in ancient times.

Since Jeff Koons's first solo show in 1980, his work has been widely exhibited internationally. Major retrospectives have been presented by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1992); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1992); Aarhus Kunstmuseum (1993); Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (1993); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1993); Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (2004); and Helsinki City Art Museum (2005). "Jeff Koons: A Retrospective" opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York in 2014 and traveled to Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2014–15).

Select museum exhibitions include “Jeff Koons on the Roof,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2008); “Jeff Koons: Versailles,” Château de Versailles (2008–09); “Jeff Koons: Celebration,” Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2008–09); “Jeff Koons: Popeye Series,” Serpentine Gallery, London (2009); “Jeff Koons,” Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel (2012); and “Jeff Koons: The Painter and the Sculptor,” Schirn Kunsthalle and Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt (2012).

Currently Koons’s artworks are being displayed at Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria, Florence, for the exhibition “Jeff Koons in Florence” (through December 28, 2015). Balloon Venus (Orange) is on view in the rotunda of the Natural History Museum Vienna (through March 13, 2016).

Koons lives and works in New York City.

Gagosian Gallery
522 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10011
www.gagosian.com

Post-War & Contemporary Art - Christie’s London Auctions lead by Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons works

Post-War & Contemporary Art Auctions 

Christie’s London

16 - 17 February 2011

CHRISTIE’S AUCTIONS OF POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART will take place on 16 and 17 February 2011 in London and are expected to realise a combined total of £46,246,000 to £66,447,000 (corresponding auctions in February 2010 - £34.9 million to £50.5 million). Highlights from the Evening auction were on public exhibition at Christie’s New York from 24 to 26 January. The full auctions is on public exhibition in London from 12 to 16 February.

ANDY WARHOL AND JEFF KOONS LEAD CONTEMPORARY MASTERWORKS

Francis Outred, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe: “I am very excited by the upcoming auction which is probably the strongest and most diverse we have had in London since I joined Christie’s in January 2009. Showing some of the most important art from Europe and America of the last fifty years, it also showcases the best art which has emerged across the globe over the last decade. Anchored by the re-discovery of the outstanding monumental self-portrait by Andy Warhol, it is also great to offer Jeff Koons’ seminal ‘Winter Bears’. An incredible life-like representation in wood which is child-size, this re-fashioning of the Adam and Eve story as cutesy Alpine bears clutching a heart shaped bag, where all seems too perfect to be true, represents one of Koons' greatest musings on the nature of modern relationships. It seems very apt to be offering this work in Valentine's week.”

REDISCOVERED SEMINAL LARGE SELF-PORTRAIT BY ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)

Executed in 1967 and an addition to an historically important series of 10 self-portraits, the picture has been in a private collection since 1974 when it was acquired from Leo Castelli, Warhol’s primary dealer. It will be offered at the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction on Wednesday 16 February 2011 in London and is expected to realise £3 million to £5 million. The picture was exhibited in public for the first time at Christie’s New York from 22 to 26 January 2011.

The present work is one of an historic series of 11 large-scale self-portraits executed in 1967, five of which are in museums (Tate, London; The Staatsgalerie Moderne Kunst, Munich; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and two at the Detroit Institute for Arts). Such is the importance of the series that eight of the known works were included in the artist’s landmark retrospective at MOMA two years after his death in 1989. The present work is completely unpublished and has been in the same private collection since 1974.

Francis Outred, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe: “I’m incredibly excited at the prospect of offering this rediscovered masterpiece by Andy Warhol. At the time of its execution Warhol was at the peak of his creative powers and this very rare series of works were the largest self-portraits he had made. This work shows a classic image of the artist in an imposing, larger than life scale, with an extraordinary presence of thick, red paint. That 5 of the works from this series are in museums is a testament to their importance.”

The image of Warhol with his hand to his mouth is one of the most representative and iconic images of the artist. Warhol first used the image for a group of works in 1966 painted in a much smaller, life-size scale. The following year he used the same image in producing 11 monumental works in a large-scale format of six foot square, of which the present example is one. Six works from this series were exhibited in the American Pavilion at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal which was visited by tens of millions of people, and which saw the portraits dominate an exhibition including works by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Barnett Newman and Robert Rauschenberg.

By 1967 Warhol had reached a point in his career when he was internationally recognized as the most important and controversial figure in American Pop Art. The present series of self-portraits represent the high point of his career when he has achieved great wealth and fame, and when as a celebrity he brashly and confidently presented his own image in a truly monumental fashion to a global audience of millions.

SEMINAL WORK FROM JEFF KOONS

Another leading highlight is Winter Bears, 1988, a seminal work from Jeff Koons (b. 1955) highly acclaimed Banality series which launched him as an international art star in the late 1980s. At over 120 cm in height, the pair of child-sized sculptures, with their wide eyes, matching ‘his and hers’ clothing and cartoonish faces, wave to us and welcome us into the distinct world of Jeff Koons. If the Banality series was Koons’ idealised human civilisation or ‘Garden of Eden’, the Winter Bears represented Adam and Eve, the perfect depiction of human unity, as an Alpine European couple. Painstakingly carved out of wood which has then been polychromed in the traditional manner redolent of the great Medieval church sculpture in Germany, Koons has here lent a human and spiritual air to a cartoon-like creation. Their size and physicality lends them a thoroughly human quality which begins to jar the lines between cartoon and reality, and high and low art. Offered at auction for the first time having been in the present collection since 1994, it is expected to realise £2.5 million to £3.5 million. Another version of Winter Bears resides in the collection of the Tate Modern in London.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING AUCTION

Dina Amin, Director and Head of Evening Auction: “The global personality of the sale is reflected in works from China, Brazil, India and Iraq as well as major works from America and Europe. We are particularly pleased to have strong representations of Eduardo Chillida, Gerhard Richter and Lucio Fontana, alongside an extremely rare pioneering portrait by Martial Raysse.”

Italy

The dawn of conceptual art is represented at the auction through two Italian pioneers of the movement; Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) and Piero Manzoni (1933-1963). In the late 1950s and early 1960s, these two artists transformed the landscape of contemporary art with works that went on to inspire, among others, Warhol, Koons, Hirst and Gursky.

Concetto spaziale, 1961, by Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) is a sumptuous symphony of gold which explores the ideas and concepts of space and the immaterial in the same year that Yuri Gagarin would become the first man in space. From the artist’s breakthrough series Olii, which includes the celebrated Venice series of the same year, the present work relates very closely to Concetto spaziale, Venezia era tutta d’oro, now in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. It is expected to realise £2 million to £3 million. Also by the artist, Concetto spaziale, Attesa was executed in 1964 and is a beautiful, crisp minimalist work in white which emphasizes the purity of the slash against a background reminiscent of Manzoni, whom he had strongly influenced and who had died the previous year. It is expected to realise £1 million to £1.5 million.

Achrome by Piero Manzoni (1933-1963) is an early, majestic example of the artist’s most celebrated series of works. Executed in 1958-59, it is of a relatively large scale of 60cm by 80cm and is offered at auction for the first time. Created through the marriage of soaked kaolin and canvas, the work has been allowed to develop autonomously to mesmerizing effect. It is expected to realise £1.8 million to £2.5 million.

United States

Untitled by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) is an important, early work executed in 1981, the year in which the artist moved from the street to the studio. Acquired by the current Italian owner circa 1982, the year after it was painted, this important, early and rarely seen work captures the raw energy and power of the artist before his star rose in the art world. It is expected to realise £1 million to £1.5 million. ‘While I was there looking at the painting [the present work], the owner came closer to me and said: ‘When Basquiat knew that the painting was here, he came back to see it again. As soon as he saw the painting, he started crying. He said that he would never be able to do paintings like this again’ (T. Lo Porto, quoted in Phoebe Hoban, ‘Vita Lucente e Breve di un Genio dell’arte’, Rome, 2006).

France

L'année dernière à Capri (titre exotique) by Martial Raysse (b. 1936) is one of the artist’s most important works. Painted in 1962, it captures the point at which Nouveau Réalisme the movement that he pioneered, met with Pop Art in striking fashion. An exceptionally early milestone from the early history of Pop Art, this vibrant, larger than life work measures 184cm x 134.6cm and is offered at auction for the first time having been in the same private collection since circa 1975. It is expected to realise £1 million to 1.5 million with proceeds to benefit a charitable Foundation.

UK

Branded by Jenny Saville (b. 1970) is an epic, early portrait measuring 7 foot in height and 6 feet in width. Painted in 1992, it was one of the first works by the artist acquired by Charles Saatchi as he began to champion her work and it was subsequently exhibited in 2000 at the National Portrait Gallery’s Painting the Century: 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900-2000. It was acquired at auction by the present owner in 2000 for a then world record price for the artist and is expected to realise £700,000 to £1,000,000. 

Arginine Decarboxylase by Damien Hirst (b. 1965) was executed in 1994, the year that he was nominated for the Turner Prize, and is one of the largest of the artist’s early, celebrated spot paintings. It is expected to realise £400,000 to £600,000.

Germany

Athanor by Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) is a haunting and provocative presentation of a Reichstag-like building as a vast, ruined and burnt-out brick oven painted in 1991, the period soon after German reunification. A monumental and highly important work that represented both a warning and an image of hope and possibility to the German people, it is expected to realise £800,000 to £1,200,000.

Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) is widely regarded as the father of post-modern painting and the auction will offer 4 of his works each from different, influential periods in his career:

o Stadtbild, is an almost abstract townscape painted in 1969 as the artist moved away from the photo-realist style that had dominated his output during that decade (estimate: £400,000 to £600,000).

o Gilbert & George, 1975, is one of a series of six portraits of the celebrated British artists, two of which are in museums (Tate Modern, London and National Gallery, Canberra) (estimate: £600,000 to £800,000).

o Abstraktes Bild, 1990, is a mesmerizing work that represents the pinnacle of the artist’s move into abstraction (estimate: £1 million to £1.5 million)

o Ausschnitt (Kreutz), 1971, is a masterly painting, a photo-realist depiction of a brushstroke (estimate: £1.2 million to £1.8 million).

Untitled V, 1997, by Andreas Gursky (b. 1955) is one of the most important and recognisable of the artist’s works, showing 6 rows of sport shoes – a symbol representing consumerism and popular culture in the 1990s. Executed in 1997 and measuring 4 metres in length, the present work is one of an edition of only six, another of which established a then world auction record price for the artist in 2002. Offered from an important private European collection, it is expected to realise £800,000 to £1,200,000.

Spain

The auction will offer three outstanding works by Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), each a powerful example of the artist’s command of form and space executed in three vastly differing materials. Lo profundo es el Aire XX (How Profound is the Air XX), 1998, is carved from a vast block of translucent alabaster in such a way that it mpoetically explores and demonstrates the conceptual penetration of solid material by light and space (estimate: £600,000 to £800,000); Elogio del Vacío V (Eulogy of the Void V), 1984, is made from cor-ten steel and expected to realise £350,000 to £450,000; and Mural G-46, a large and comparatively rare clay work from 1984 carries an estimate of £300,000 to £400,000.

Tres equis, 1990, by Miquel Barceló (b. 1957) belongs to one of the most celebrated series of paintings by the artist in which he portrays images and interpretations of Bullfights. Offered from an important European collection, it is expected to realise £400,000 to £600,000.

21st century global artists

A strong group of global artists from the 21st century will be presented at the auction including works by Charti Kher from India, Yan Pei Ming from China and Adriana Vãrejao from Brazil. Parede com Incisões a la Fontana II (Wall with Incisions a la Fontana II), 2001, is an important masterpiece by Adriana Vãrejao (b. 1964), one of Brazil’s most prominent contemporary artists. The work shows a vast representation of a tiled wall which has been dramatically punctuated with slashes which recall the work of Lucio Fontana. However, these slashes allow a glimpse through to an apparently fleshy background, giving the illusion of an existence beneath the surface. One of the most important works of South American contemporary art to be offered on a global auction platform, it is expected to realise £200,000 to £300,000.

The Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction will take place on Thursday 17 February 2011 and will offer 215 lots with a combined pre-sale estimate of £10,246,000 to £14,507,000, with individual estimates from £10,000.

*Estimates do not include buyer's premium

Sale 7955: Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction, 16 February 2011

Sale 7956: Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Auction, 17 February 2011

CHRISTIE'S LONDON
www.christies.com

Expo Blanc Bordeaux FRAC Hangar G2 Une exposition qui vous dit Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur le blanc à travers une belle sélection d’oeuvres du FRAC Aquitaine

Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur le BLANC
FRAC Aquitaine, Hangar G2, Bordeaux
Commissaire d'exposition : Claire Jacquet
28 janvier - 16 avril 2011

Avec les œuvres de Absalon, Karina Bisch, Harry Callahan, Nicolas Chardon, Hervé Coqueret, Stéphane Dafflon, Lee Friedlander, Katharina Fritsch, Thomas Hirschhorn, Cathy Jardon, Imi Knoebel, Jeff Koons, Pierre Labat, Mathieu Mercier, Thierry Mouillé, Roman Opalka, Florian Pugnaire, Hugues Reip, Thomas Ruff, Jean Sabrier, Anne Xiradakis.

Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur le blanc est une exposition d’œuvres issues de la collection du FRAC AQUITAINE dont le point commun est la couleur blanche. Le choix de cette couleur repose sur sa qualité d’être fondamentalement liée à l’histoire du modernisme et des avant-gardes tant du côté de la peinture (le célèbre Carré blanc sur fond blanc de Kasimir Malewitch en 1918), de l’architecture (Le Corbusier) ou du design. Plus tard, l’histoire de l’art retiendra le geste de Robert Rauschenberg procédant à l’effacement d’un dessin de Willem de Kooning (1953), l’exposition « Le vide » de Yves Klein à la galerie Iris Clert (1958), ou encore l’œuvre de Robert Ryman s’appuyant exclusivement sur des effets de peintures blanches à partir des années 1960. Faut-il comprendre l’histoire du blanc comme une généalogie des commencements, telle la page blanche pour l’écrivain ? Le blanc est-il synonyme immanquablement de modernité pour ce qu’il construit d’inédit ? Du « tout est possible » ? Quelles définitions ou sens lui donner aujourd’hui ?

Ayant en mémoire ces actes fondateurs des artistes du siècle dernier, l’exposition au Frac Aquitaine prolonge ce récit de la tonalité blanche à travers différentes œuvres de sa collection : KARINA BISCH réinterprète la théière de Kasimir Malevitch à travers un objet en plâtre tenant à la fois de l’architecture, du design et de la sculpture. STEPHANE DAFFLON réinvente un espace vierge à l’intérieur d’un cadre. JEFF KOONS érige un monument aux premiers aspirateurs américains, héros contemporains des espaces aseptisés. Les trois monochromes de KATARINA FRISCH indiquent que le blanc ne peut se définir que par rapport aux autres couleurs, tandis que ROMAN OPALKA étire le temps à travers des photographies et des tableaux de plus en plus délavées, au risque que les signes disparaissent…

Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur le blanc poursuit sa logique d’introspection à travers une longue série de questions qui ne font que revenir aux origines, à l’essentiel, à l’épure : le blanc est-il le contraire du sale (DENNIS ADAMS) ? la transparence (MATHIEU MERCIER) ou l’effacement (THIERRY MOUILLE) ? Le blanc signifie-t-il la douceur, l’intimité (HARRY CALLAHAN) ou le neutre - voire l’anonymat - au sein de la Cité (LEE FRIEDLANDER, THOMAS RUFF) ? Est-il forcément lié à des codes liés à la santé et à l’hygiène ou à de simples règles commerciales du packaging (FRANCK SCURTI) ? Est-il susceptible de passer à l’état gazeux (JEAN SABRIER) ? Est-il statique ou peut-il s’introduire dans une dynamique (IMI KNOEBEL, FLORIAN PUGNIAIRE) ? A-t-il un degré d’apesanteur (PIERRE LABAT) ? Est-il à même de pouvoir créer une durée (ROMAN OPALKA), du silence (ABSALON) ? Et que dire du « White Cube » dont THOMAS HIRSCHORN présente avec Lascaux III une sorte de contremodèle ? Cette exposition sera l’occasion de présenter une nouvelle production de NICOLAS CHARDON conçue pour l’extérieur et aux alentours du Hangar G2.

Commissariat d'exposition : CLAIRE JACQUET  

Vernissage le 28 janvier 2011 à partir de 18h30

Colloque avec arc en rêve, 28 janvier 2011 :
Parallèlement à l'exposition du Frac d'Aquitaine, un colloque est organisé avec Arc en rêve centre d’architecture. Une journée de réflexion autour du blanc, traité dans le champ du design. Avec critique d’art, architecte, écrivain, designer.
A Arc en rêve, Bordeaux

Week-end Musée Télérama : Evénements et rencontres le weekend du 19 et 20 mars 2011. Programmation à venir

FRAC AQUITAINE
Hangar G2, Bassin à flot n°1
Quai Armand Lalande
33300 BORDEAUX — France

www.frac-aquitaine.net

Le Frac – Collection Aquitaine est financé par le Conseil régional d’Aquitaine et l’Etat (Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication -  Direction régionale des Affaires culturelles d’Aquitaine). Avec le soutien de la Ville de Bordeaux.

Horaires d'ouverture : lundi-vendredi de 10h à 18h, samedi de 14h à 18h.

Entrée libre