Flora Yukhnovich - Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon Charity Auction London Monday, March 15, 2021 | Phillips

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  • Description

    © Flora Yukhnovich

    Condition reports, Lot descriptions and information in respect of Lots included in this Online-Only Auction have been prepared exclusively by Whitechapel Gallery following Whitechapel Gallery’s assessment of the Lots. Phillips and its staff are not responsible in any way for such statements, representations or opinions or for any other information provided in respect of the Lots, whether by Whitechapel Gallery, on Phillips website or in any other form.

  • Provenance

    Donation courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro

  • Catalogue Essay

    “abstraction and figuration don’t feel separate to me. They are two different points in the same process, part of a spectrum which ranges from very loose, abstracted marks through to tightly articulated figuration. I do want the resulting paintings to remain open and ambiguous despite their figuration. The viewer has to fill in the looser areas in their mind and I hope that leads to a multiplicity of different readings.” Flora Yukhnovich

    Masterfully combining figuration and abstraction, Above the Salt is emblematic of Flora Yukhnovich’s known oeuvre that reimagines the aesthetic of Rococo paintings into a contemporary language.

    This painting is part of a new series of work begun at the end of 2020 and is inspired by various 18th Century paintings of the Birth of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty born from sea spray. In this painting, fragments of Venus’ body are intertwined with the sea. Loose patches of blue fluidly intersect and overlap with flesh in a frenzied abstraction. The body edges in and out of focus in a masterful handling of oil paint.

    Yukhnovich is one of the latest additions to Victoria Miro’s roster and was one of the first artists to be invited to undertake a residency with the gallery in Venice in 2019. The residency prompted a shift in her work from French to Italian influences, and ushered in a looser and more gestural handling of brushwork that heightens the rhythmic sensuality that plays throughout her ambitious compositions.

    Selected as 'One to Watch’ of Elephant Magazine’s ‘Definitive Art Stars of 2021’. Flora Yukhnovich completed her MA at the City & Guilds of London Art School in 2017. She has exhibited at Brocket, London, Parafin, London, GASK, the Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic, the Jerwood Gallery Hastings and at Blenheim Walk Gallery, Leeds Arts University, UK. Collections include Government Art Collection and David Roberts Art Collection. In 2018 she completed The Great Women Artists Residency at Palazzo Monti, Brescia. During the second half of 2022, Flora will have a solo exhibition at Victoria Miro and an exhibition of works responding to the collection at The Ashmolean, Oxford.

10

Above the Salt

signed and dated 'F. Yukhnovich 2021' on the overlap
oil on linen
80 x 70 cm (31 1/2 x 27 1/2 in.)
Painted in 2021.

Estimate
£15,000 - 20,000 

Sold

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Charlotte Gibbs

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Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon Charity Auction

Online Auction 15 - 23 March 2021