Michaël Borremans - Contemporary Art Evening Sale London Friday, October 17, 2008 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp; Marc Jancou Fine Art, New York

  • Catalogue Essay

    Michaël Borremans has developed a pallette of imagery that is, at first encounter, straightforward and realistic, but when given the chance to reveal itself, images of an unsettled world unfold causing the viewer to compose restless narratives in their psyche. Borremans works are views into the private lives of his sitters, presenting them in states of remarkable banality, where apparently they are to be engaged in acts of the everyday.
    His portraits appear concealed and unavailable, in a sense they are disengaged from everything and exist only as they are presented to the viewer.The present lot, The Ulcer, holds an astute posture as she speculates the object in front of her, the scene is ordinary to the point of perverse fascination, engulfing even the most unwilling of viewer.
    The female sitter is brought to the viewer but remains distant enough to conjure voyeuristic feelings of discomfort as it feels too familiar to be anonymous. The Ulcer is a powerful image of a troubled atmosphere, it holds a deafening silence within it that places its audience within its grip.

339

The Ulcer

2001
Oil on canvas.
50.2 x 41.9 cm. (19 3/4 x 16 1/2 in).

Signed, titled and dated 'Michael MCG Borremans 2001 "The Ulcer’' on the reverse.

Estimate
£80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠

Sold for £103,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

18 Oct 2008, 7pm
London