Tommy Angel #8

Details

Jonathan Allen (b. 1966)
Tommy Angel #8
signed, titled, numbered and dated '"TOMMY ANGEL #8" 1/3 JONATHAN ALLEN' (on the reverse)
c-print
47½ x 35½in. (125 x 90cm.)
Executed in 2005, this work is number one from an edition of three

Provenance

David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2006.

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. VAT rate of 20% is payable on hammer price and buyer's premium

Brought to you by

Cristian Albu

Check the condition report or get in touch for additional information about this

calbu@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7752 3006

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

Jonathan Allens bible-thumping alter-ego, Tommy Angel, is a character of seductive grotesquerie: a beguiling hybrid of Deep South evangelist preacher, 70s cheese-bag magician, and Sforzian political svengali. A contemporary carpetbagger for American Fundamentalism, Angel manifests in life-size photographic portraits, and the live performances which emerge from their illusory surfaces, drawing connotations between religious faith, secular magic, and arts hall of mirrors. Provocative entertainment, sleazy showmanship, and charlatan trickery blur as Allen interrogates the religious and political unconscious of our time. Tommy Angel #8 is one of a series of images depicting various magic routines or miracles, each culled from the shared iconographies of Vegas and Christendom. Parodic and downright pervy, Allens ventriloquist act with a Charlie McCarthy Jesus plucked straight from the cross is posed as a freakish Madonna and Child.

Tommy Angel #8

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

More from Post War and Contemporary Art 1990 To Now