140. Sigmar Polke
1941-2010
Untitled, 1973 ink, acrylic, and watercolour on paper 99.1 x 69.9 cm (39 x 27 1/2 in.) Signed and dated ‘Sigmar Polke 73’ lower right and stamped. Estimate £100,000-150,000 $145,000-218,000 €133,000-199,000 ‡ ♠ Provenance Barbara Guggenheim Associates, New York
Undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed artists of the twentieth century, Sigmar Polke’s appetite for experimentation lead him to cross all artistic genres and defy standard categorisation. His inventive works amalgamated diferences such as the heroic and the banal, fguration and abstraction and high and low culture in an attempt to successfully destabilise conventional distinctions. Untitled, 1973 is a splendid work which marks Polke’s new investigational project during the seventies, in which he indulged in hallucinogenic drugs such as mushrooms, LSD and opium. Polke found that painting under the infuence of drugs allowed for a heightened visual perspective which he sought to test out. During this time, the artist also travelled a lot to fulfl his passion for exotic experiences. This passion of his is refected in this particular work with its layering between abstraction and fguration, giving it an overall dreamlike and tropical feel. Furthermore, the random coloured patterns simultaneously hide and uncover the sexualised fgures. For instance, the phallus of the male fgure is both concealed and encircled. Pink circles which resemble breasts appear to be foating around further accentuating the senses which emerge as a result of hallucination. The present lot is a characteristic product of his drug experimentation. Captivated by psychedelic efects, Polke takes the viewer on a hallucinated trip by presenting us with an image of altered reality.
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