11 DAN COLEN b. 1979 Untitled (Birdshit), 2007 Oil on canvas. 30 x 23 3/4 in. (76.2 x 60.3 cm). Signed and dated ÒDan Colen 2007Ó on the overlap.
Estimate $ 3 5 , 0 0 0 - 4 5 , 0 0 0 PROVENANCE Peres Projects, Los Angeles/Berlin EXHIBITED London, Victoria Miro Galley, Absent Without Leave, February 17 - March 17, 2007
I have spent today installing my work in the gallery. IÕve made this large series of 62 canvases that I kind of threw paint at in different ways so they end up looking like they are made of bird shit. They vary in size, touch and colour. Some of them look like Pollocks, some look very realistic, others are painterly, some are dumb, some are elegant, some are beautiful. The last solo show that I did I put up sculptures of big boulders covered in spray paint, bubble gum and what looked like pigeon shit. Doing it straight on to a canvas this time around made it explode for me ÉWhat excites me is the idea of hypothetical pigeons being the performers, rather than me, so all the shit is the residue of their activity. (D. Colen quoted in D. Colen, ÒMy paintings look like shit,Ó The Guardian Art & Design Blog, February 16, 2007)
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