Provenance
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Catalogue Essay
“I like how these materials take some control away from me, allowing for a more uncertain future and yet a more finished piece.” DANCOLEN

The work Happy Accidents Happy Endings by New York-based artist Dan Colen was executed with used chewing gum in 2010. It demonstrates how clearly, even palpably so, how Colen has learned to work with lowly matter and materials by investigating their individual histories and exposing their latent energy through the process of painting. In doing so, he addresses the gestural approach of the Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, undermining their formalism by the application of used chewing gum to the blank canvas, and so reconceptualising the process of painting. Colen thus pursues postmodern strategies by drawing for his material and subject from urban sub-culture, the mass media, personal experience and a mixture of highbrow and lowbrow. In 2006, Dan Colen took a picture of the Bubble Gum alley in Los Angeles, known for its accumulation of used bubble gum on the walls. Titled In love with Life, the photograph marks the beginning of Colen’s interest in using chewing gum as a medium of expression.
Artist Biography
Dan Colen
American • 1979
American artist Dan Colen has spent most of his career asking himself questions about the editorial decisions artists have to make when creating a scene from scratch on canvas. In his early work, Colen painted mundane interiors punctuated with fantastical elements. This manifested as part of a growing curiosity in the ethereal or divine intervention.
Colen subsequently stepped away from paint as material and started using found objects as mediums with which to paint. Among these, Colen has used chewing gum, street trash, confetti, feathers, flowers and dirt. This methodology allows Colen to abandon control and create in a more free-form, subconscious manner.
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2

Dan Colen

Happy Accidents, Happy Endings

2010
chewing gum on canvas
121 x 91 cm (47 5/8 x 35 7/8 in)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Dan Colen 2010 “Happy Accidents, Happy Endings”’ on the overlap. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Estimate
£80,000 - 120,000 ‡

Sold for £145,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

10 October 2012
London

1
Wolfgang Tillmans
Freischwimmer #84
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡♠
Sold for £39,650
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2
Dan Colen
Happy Accidents, Happy Endings
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £145,250
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3
Adam McEwen
Dessau
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡♠
Sold for £121,250
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4
Rob Pruitt
Baby
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £97,250
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5
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £181,250
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6
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 †
Sold for £169,250
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7
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £361,250
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8
John Baldessari
Strobe Series/Futurist: Dog on Leash (for Balla)
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
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9
Robert Longo
Untitled (Long Tou)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
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10
Sean Scully
Homo Duplex
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £601,250
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11
Louise Bourgeois
Nature Study
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000
Sold for £713,250
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12
Andy Warhol
Watches
Estimate £1,000,000 - 2,000,000 ‡
Sold for £1,004,450
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13
Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol
GE Short Line & Reading
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14
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Big Joy
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15
This lot is no longer available.
16
Andy Warhol
Mao Portfolio (set of 10)
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £577,250
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17
Richard Prince
Untitled (Girlfriend)
Estimate £220,000 - 280,000 ‡
Sold for £223,250
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18
George Condo
Daphnée
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19
Damien Hirst
Sad Steps – Life Fulfilled
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
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20
Andreas Gursky
Rimini
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £421,250
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21
Gerhard Richter
Abstraktes Bild
Estimate £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £2,449,250
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22
Anselm Kiefer
Dein Haus ritt die finstere Welle
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ♠
Sold for £577,250
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23
Miquel Barceló
Sinonimies
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ♠
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24
Richard Prince
Mumbai after Dark
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25
Enoc Pérez
Darlington Hotel, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico,
Estimate £140,000 - 180,000 ‡
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26
Andreas Gursky
Hong Kong Stock Exchange (diptych)
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
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27
Robert Indiana
LOVE (Red faces Blue sides),
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
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28
Ugo Rondinone
DRITTERAPRILZWEITAUSENDUNDSIEBEN
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £289,250
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29
Raqib Shaw
Death, Beauty & Justice
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
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30
Yayoi Kusama
Galaxy Red A,B,C
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
Sold for £313,250
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31
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32
Martin Kippenberger
S.Q.36/I.B.B.D. (Ich bin Besonders Doof)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ♠
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33
Bill Viola
Ablutions
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Sold for £181,250
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34
Margherita Manzelli
Mr. Grigio
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ♠
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35
Nigel Cooke
Drift
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36
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
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37
Ged Quinn
Things are Exactly as they Seem
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £91,250
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

10 October 2012 London

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Dan Colen

2

Dan Colen

Happy Accidents, Happy Endings

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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10 October 2012
London