Nate Lowman - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York Sunday, May 8, 2016 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Maccarone, New York
    Private Collection, Europe
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Catalogue Essay

    "America's built on violence...it's all manifest destiny; it's totally brutal." Nate Lowman

    Nate Lowman’s White Escalade, 2005 is from his seminal bullet hole series. The image is re-appropriated from the adhesive stickers sold at American gas stations; these trompe l’oeil decals, applied directly to cars give the illusion of grittiness, of an automobile which has been shot up in a high speed chase. Lowman has co-opted this symbol of violence and rebellion and isolated it as his own graphic, pop art logo. White Escalade, 2005 embodies Lowman’s digestion of the American obsession with violence and the ever-evolving fascination with street and gang violence. He explains that this phenomenon is borne from our cultural inability to communicate with one another, commenting, “We can't communicate with each other- we can fight, we can kill, we can do those things well.” (Nate Lowman, Interview Magazine, 2009) Gallerist Michele Maccarone refers to Lowman’s practice as a survey into the “history of American violence,” exposing the dark underside of the American dream. (Jacob Bernstein, Why Isn’t This Man Smiling, The New York Times, December 26, 2012) Lowman’s fascination with artistic emblems of Americana has brought him to the forefront of contemporary art field and the present lot, White Escalade, 2005, represents one of his finest artistic achievements.

36

White Escalade

2005
silkscreen ink on canvas, laid on panel
70 7/8 x 59 7/8 in. (180 x 152.1 cm)
Signed and dated "Nate Lowman 2005" along the overlap.

Estimate
$300,000 - 400,000 

Sold for $365,000

Contact Specialist
Kate Bryan
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1267

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 8 May 2016