Lot #18 - Milan Mrkusich
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Auction House:Webb's
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Sale Name:Vision Series
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Sale Date:24 Nov 2015 ~ 6.30pm (NZ time)
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Lot #:18
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Lot Description:Milan Mrkusich
Achromatic, Dark I 1977
acrylic on canvas
1760mm x 1430mm
title inscribed, signed and dated '77 verso; label verso inscribed Show Bg. One Man Show 1980, view 5 21st April - 1st May -
Exhibited:ILLUSTRATED: Wright, Alan, Edward Hanfling, Mrkusich: the art of transformation, Auckland, Auckland University Press, 2009, plate 67
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Notes:Achromatic, Dark I belongs to a period spanning the years of 1977-78, where Mrkusich’s investigations into the grid were refined and contrasted against the artist’s other formalist concern: the surface of the work itself. Delicate lines appear embedded on the surface of the work, creating a band in the lower third of the work comprised of miniature squares. These squares echo the four lines of the frame, and indeed the four edges of the work itself. Mrkusich’s concern here is to manifest the essence and power of the hue, which fills the viewer’s field of vision alongside the materiality of the painted surface. By creating the surface with a paint roller Mrkusich has removed the traditional mark of the artist’s brush, which characterised his earlier works, in an effort to distill his working methodology to only the most essential components. While this technique at first detaches the work from the hand of the artist, the grid lines in the lower part of the work betray this by alluding to Mrkusich’s meticulous precision and concentration in their application onto the canvas. The viewer is confronted not just with a monochromatic palette but also an abstract geometric form, where formalist concerns have been elegantly intertwined with aesthetic values. ALEKSANDRA PETROVIC
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Estimate:NZ$50,000 - 60,000
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Realised Price:
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Category:Art
This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.
