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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen-Webb's
• Sale Name:
  Important Paintings and Contemporary Art
• Sale Date:
  07 Aug 2017 ~ 6.30pm (NZST)
• Lot #:
  23
• Lot Description:
  Graham Sydney
  Poplars, Ida Valley
  oil on canvas, 2003
  760mm x 1115mm
  signed GRAHAME SYDNEY and dated 2003 in brushpoint lower left; inscribed "Poplars, Ida Valley" and dated 2003 verso
• Provenance:
  Commissioned by the present owner, 2001.
• Notes:
  The landscape of Ida Valley in Central Otago features prominently in Grahame Sydney's body of work. In this instance, however, the dramatic intersection of flat plains, golden fields and endless country roads, which characterise this area of the Manuherikia Valley, are not essential to the painting. Obscured by the onset of darkness, these topographic features are, in fact, secondary. Poplars, Ida Valley is, first and foremost, a testament to Sydney's skill as a hyper-realist painter. The work demonstrates the artist's deeply intimate relationship with the region's atmosphere and spirit. Sydney's technical excellence is thrown into stark relief in this scene. It was painted in 2003, when the artist had been working prolifically in both the photographic and the painted media for some time, and the incisiveness of his photographic eye is evident. This painting derives a unique brand of impressionism from the New Zealand landscape, one which captures all the minutiae of atmospheric detail, whilst still retaining the theatricality and subjective sensuality of the artist's lens. Poplars, Ida Valley presents a reality which the naked eye is incapable of perceiving. Through this work, Sydney has handled the landscape in much the same capacity as a theatre director would when undertaking a stage play; each individual element is entirely truthful to form and yet, as witnesses, we sense a retelling of reality. The function of this work is clearly not documentary and the composition has been executed with such curatorial care that Ida Valley appears to us as a stage-set. This sense of theatricality is borne out further through the perfectly balanced harmony of clouds, the motion of each strata perfectly offset in the opposite direction by those below, and the unlikely (though entirely poetic) perfection of tonality through which the dark landform transforms upwards to light, expansive sky. Finally, of course, there is that undefinable essence of the valley, and its sense of atmosphere and magic. And what of those poplars? Were it not for the painting's title, they would hardly be acknowledged. Though barely identifiable, in their blurred erectness, they serve as road markers, bringing us back to the road trip and sense of journey which comprise the grander theatre of Sydney's oeuvre. RACHEL KLEINSMAN
• Estimate:
  NZ$80,000 - 120,000
• 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.