Sale: 437 / Post War I, Dec. 10. 2016 in Munich Lot 856

 

856
Otto Piene
Tandem, 1983/84.
Oil
Estimate:
€ 150,000 / $ 162,000
Sold:
€ 187,500 / $ 202,500

(incl. surcharge)
Tandem. 1983/84.
Oil, fire and smoke on canvas.
Verso signed, dated and titled. 120 x 170.5 cm (47.2 x 67.1 in).
[EL].

PROVENANCE: From the artist's studio.
Private collection Franconia.
Private collection Lower Saxony
Galerie Koch, Hanover.
Private collection Lower Saxony.

EXHIBITION: 60 Jahre Galerie Koch, Galerie Koch, Hanover 2015, ex. cat pp. 44f.

This unique fire picture from Piene is a document of the fire's primal force as a direct means of artistic creation. The artist's hand is almost entirely excluded from the process of creation, it barely touched more than the canvas. The only things the artist determines are the angle between canvas and fire and the moment the fire is extinguished. This largely anonymized process of creation is accompanied by an increasingly associative designation of the circular forms generated from the incrustations of the jelled paint, which gain in subjective uniqueness through this process. In allusion to the double brand mark, Piene adds special meaning to this work with the title "Tandem“. In Piene's interpretation of the tandem, the bright red in combination with the deep black of the two fire circles in the lower half of the image, leads to direct associations with passion, fugacity and new life. These thoughts are not only echoed by title and choice of colors, but also through the fire as an integral part of the creation, as the primal element has a both destructive and creative character.



856
Otto Piene
Tandem, 1983/84.
Oil
Estimate:
€ 150,000 / $ 162,000
Sold:
€ 187,500 / $ 202,500

(incl. surcharge)