Post War & Contemporary Art 
19 May 2021
Post War & Contemporary Art 
144

John Currin b.1962

Untitled

1989
graphite on paper 12½ h × 9¼ w in (32 × 23 cm)
estimate: $7,000–9,000
result: $9,100
follow artist
own a similar item?
free evaluation

Signed and dated lower right ‘1989 John Currin’. Signed to verso 'John Currin'.
provenance: Acquired directly from the artist | Private Collection | Sotheby's, Contemporary Curated, 3 March 2016, Lot 266 | Private Collection, New York
exhibited: Amerikarma, 18 November - 22 December 1989, Hallwalls, Buffalo

print

The present work is an early example within Currin's ouevre, made just a few years after he graduated from Yale University. Subtly unsettling, the figure's third eye foreshadows the figural distortions, exaggerations, and weirdness that would characterize his work as his career progressed. It was exhibited in the Amerikarma exhibition at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo, New York alongside a roster of budding contemporary artists including Raymond Pettibon, Cady Noland, Richard Prince, Jessica Diamond, and Felix Gonzales-Torres. 

144