Christian Rosa - Contemporary Art and Design Evening Sale New York Tuesday, March 3, 2015 | Phillips

Contemporary Art and Design Evening Sale

New York Auction 3 March 2015 6pm

  • Provenance

    Ibid Projects Ltd., London

  • Catalogue Essay

    “I’m trying to evolve my own language step by step and just to make them basically look good for me, so I am happy.”
    Christian Rosa

    Christian Rosa has quickly gained notoriety as a new age abstract expressionist. Gleaning visual motifs from such predecessors as Joan Miro, Cy Twombly and Wassily Kandinsky, Rosa has created his own language through a hieroglyphic alphabet of color and form. As seen in the present lot, Flora or Floral, 2014, Rosa’s isolated forms sail upon a bare canvas, each shape or form is distinct from each other in texture, color, medium and application. The dashing yellow line, blue scribbled box and calligraphic black squiggles play together in a rhythm of originality and whimsy. The mix and matched forms allow for a composition of endless variety and highlight the strength of Rosa’s physical mark making.

    In Flora or Floral we witness a kaleidoscopic celebration of botany. As we gaze upon the canvas and read its narrative from left to right, a brilliant tale of emotional impulse scans across the surface. A jet-black calligraphic form begins the sentence, as it jazzes to the right immediately intercepted by a yellow dash of solidarity. Below this initial form, red, blue, pink and green marks dance in visual splendor across the lower quadrant of the painting. As we inch closer towards the picture's edges, a cobalt blue window lingers above a twisting and knotted web of ebony.

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Christian Rosa

Flora or Floral

2014
oil stick, oil paint, pencil, charcoal, oil on canvas
78 3/4 x 94 1/2 in. (200 x 240 cm.)

Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000 

Sold for $87,500

Contact Specialist
Amanda Stoffel
Head of Evening Sale, Contemporary Art
New York
+ 1 212 940 1261

Meaghan Roddy
Head of Sale, Design
New York
+ 1 212 940 1266

Contemporary Art and Design Evening Sale

New York Auction 3 March 2015 6pm