Lot #29
Lot #30
Lot #31
Lot #32
Lot #33
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
2006
2005
2004
2003
2006
9.5 x 6.3 inches
10.2 x 7.25 inches
9.4 x 6.3 inches
8 x 5.5 inches
9.6 x 6.4 inches
Ian August is a painter, lately of portraits from life, and a member of the Winnipeg collective Two Six (or Two-Sicks or 26
Ian August
or Twenty-Six or Too-Six). This group of seven artists in their early
Winnipeg, Manitoba
to mid-twenties began as teenage graffiti writers steeped in
Five paintings on
skateboard culture. Most are recent graduates from the
book covers
University of Manitoba's School of Art in Winnipeg, including
Range: $80 - 100 each
August who matriculated with honors in 2004. According to Winnipeg's artist/critic Cliff Eyland, Two-Six paints quietly in their shared studio and bicycles wildly in the streets, decorating the city with original works of art that they call “prefabs.” Many prefabs are painted with commercial colors called “mistints,” that is, house paint that has been rejected by a buyer after already having been mixed. Mistinted paint on rejected pieces of wood found in the dumpsters makes prefabs a fabulous return of the repressed. Prefabs are small, original paintings that are “nail bombed” to
combinations. These goals are meticulously painted mysteries
city fences and walls during the ritual bicycle expedition 26 calls
and intricately layered prints. It’s an image world, baby. . . you
a “party bike.” In galleries, they install, along with large stretched
gotta know the symbols to survive. . . . (from the exhibition 4-
paintings, collections of small wall works they call “Shame Walls,”
Way Stop, Donna Beam Gallery, University of Las Vegas, 1999).
a punning reference of Halls of Fame.
The Blood Beneath My Feet is the central panel of a five-panel
Each artist in the group also makes his or her personal work.
allegorical work-in-progress that explores human life, addressing
Such are the five small paintings in this auction by Ian August.
such themes as the transience of life, death and wisdom, amongst
Painted on the outside of covers torn from hardcover books, they
others. Primarily woodcut, this hybrid, or mixed-media print
defy logical interpretation although his working titles give clues:
includes silkscreen, flocking and stickers.
wood grain, sore toe, stir sticks, Sumo Love, rope knot. His
Kim Fink teaches printmaking at the University of North Dakota.
charming and not-so charming characters go madly about their unknown business, resembling, if anything, leftover characters from Dr. Seuss. Another clue: Ian spent the last year in Banff but returned to Winnipeg to live “because he missed the winters.”