• Collection Claude Berri  auction at Christies

    Sale 13965

    Collection Claude Berri

    Paris

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    22 October 2016

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    • JOHN BALDESSARI (NÉ EN 1931)
    Lot 24 B

    JOHN BALDESSARI (NÉ EN 1931)

    Split Decision: Sheep (Blue) with One Person

    Price realised

    EUR 338,500

    Estimate

    EUR 150,000 - EUR 200,000

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    JOHN BALDESSARI (NÉ EN 1931)
    Split Decision: Sheep (Blue) with One Person
    impression jet d'encre 3D sur panneau; diptyque
    chaque: 215.5 x 80.5 x 10 cm. (84 7/8 x 31 ¾ x 3 7/8 in.)
    Réalisé en 2005.

    Provenance

    Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris
    Acquis auprès de celle-ci en 2006

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    Lot Essay

    L'oeuvre sera incluse dans John Baldessari Catalogue Raisonné. Volume 5, actuellement en préparation sous la direction de Patrick Pardo.

    «Si mon travail présente une dimension politique, cette dernière est à chercher dans la capacité de mes images à remettre en question la nature de l’imagerie en soi », a un jour déclaré Baldessari. Cette force perturbatrice est palpable dans Split decision Sheep (Blue) with one Person, composé d’une photographie en noir et blanc extraite d’un film hollywoodien classique, scindée en deux pans, et d’une image imprimée en 3D de la forme d’un mouton. Le montage énigmatique ainsi produit déconcerte l’observateur, dont la perception est encore mise à mal par une forme ronde découpée qui se substitue au visage du personnage. La pratique de la disparition des visages, signature de Baldessari, date des années 80, quand il vit dans ce procédé de composition un moyen de troubler la vision de l’observateur et pensa : «nous accordons une priorité à la vision, au regard porté sur le visage d’une personne… Certains visages des silhouettes… ne m’intéressaient pas. C’étaient leur posture ou l’ambiance, etc., qui m’intéressaient. J’ai dit : “Et bien, si ce n’est pas nécessaire, pourquoi dois-je l’utiliser ?”»

    L’ironie de l’oeuvre provient également de la manière dont Baldessari détourne sans crier gare notre attention d’une star hollywoodienne archétypale vers un mouton, en le rehaussant de bleu. Sa présence ici n’est pas surprenante : l’artiste confère souvent aux animaux une valeur de vérité dans ses oeuvres ; il les croit en effet bien plus sages que les humains. Par son rejet de lectures directes, Split decision invite l’observateur à sonder les profondeurs de son subconscient pour démêler le sous-texte de l’oeuvre. Baldessari suggère une pléthore d’interprétations, mais n’en dicte aucune, manière de pointer à la fois la relativité et la pluralité de sens dans notre monde.

    ‘If there is anything political in my work then it is to be found in the ability of my images to question the nature of imagery itself,’ – Baldessari once declared. This disruptive force is palpable in Split decision Sheep (Blue) with one Person, composed of a black-and-white photograph, drawn from a generic Hollywood movie and split in two panels, and a 3D print in form of a sheep. The resultant enigmatic montage puzzles the viewer, whose perception is further challenged by a round cut out form that substitutes the character’s face. Baldessari’s signature practice of blocking out people’s faces dates from the 1980s, when he discovered this compositional device as a means to disturb the viewer’s vision and thought: “We put a priority in vision, on looking at a person’s face... Some of the faces of the figures... didn’t interest me. It was their stance or the ambience and so on that did. I said, ‘Well, if that’s not necessary, why do I have to use it?’”

    The work’s irony also derives from the way Baldessari unexpectedly shifts our attention from somewhat Hollywood star to a sheep by highlighting it in blue. Its presence here is not surprising: the artist often invests animals with the idea of some sort of truth in his works, which he believes to be much wiser than people. Rejecting straightforward readings, Split decision invites the viewer to probe his subconscious depths in order to unravel the work’s underlying subtext. By suggesting a plethora of interpretations, but dictating none, Baldessari ultimately here points to both the relativity and plurality of meaning in our world.

    Other information

    Special Notice


    This item will be transferred to an offsite warehouse after the sale. Please refer to department for information about storage charges and collection details.


    Post Lot Text

    'SPLIT DECISION: SHEEP (BLUE) WITH ONE PERSON'; THREE-DIMENSIONAL ARCHIVAL PRINT AND ACRYLIC ON PANELS, DIPTYCH.


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