Live Auction 15192Handpicked: 100 Works Selected by the Saatchi Gallery
Alan Brooks (B. 1965)
Lot 26

Alan Brooks (B. 1965)

(i) Mondrian in his Paris studio(ii) Munch in his studio(iii) Tatlin in his studio(iv) Cezanne(v) James Ensor seated in front of 'Christ's Entry into Brussels' (vi) Chris Burden (Kick Piece)(vii) Otto Dix in his studio(viii) Bruce Nauman

Closed10 March 2017

Price Realised

GBP 2,000

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Alan Brooks (B. 1965)
(i) Mondrian in his Paris studio
(ii) Munch in his studio
(iii) Tatlin in his studio
(iv) Cezanne
(v) James Ensor seated in front of 'Christ's Entry into Brussels'
(vi) Chris Burden (Kick Piece)
(vii) Otto Dix in his studio
(viii) Bruce Nauman
(i) signed, titled and dated 'Alan Brooks London 2005 Mondrian in his Paris studio with composition with 4 yellow lines 1933 + composition with double lines + yellow 1934' (on the reverse of the frame)
(ii) signed, titled and dated 'Alan Brooks London 2005 Munch in his studio 1939' (on the reverse of the frame)
(iii) signed, titled and dated 'Alan Brooks London 2005 Tatlin Model for project for the III International' (on the reverse of the frame)
(iv) signed, titled and dated 'Alan Brooks London 2005 Cezanne' (on the reverse of the frame)
(v) signed and titled 'Alan Brooks London James Ensor seated in front of Christ's Entry into Brussels (1889) 1937' (on the reverse of the frame)
(vi) signed, titled and dated 'Alan Brooks London 2005 Chris Burden (Kick Piece.)' (on the reverse of the frame)
(vii) signed, titled and dated 'Alan Brooks London 2005 Otto Dix in his studio' (on the reverse of the frame)
(viii) signed, titled and dated 'Alan Brooks London 2005 Bruce Nauman - Two balls between the floor + the ceiling with changing rhythms 1967-68' (on the reverse of the frame)
graphite on paper, in artist's frame
(i)(iv)(v)(vi)(viii) 9 x 12 5/8in. (23 x 32cm.)
(ii)(iii)(vii) 12 5/8 x 9in. (32 x 23cm.)
(8)Executed in 2005

MOT International, London.
Acquired from the above in 2008.

Specialist note

Alan Brooks’s delicate pencil portraits depict artists in their studios. Every image is drawn from a photograph, and imbued with rich human feeling through Brooks’s nuanced treatment of light, shade and imperfection. As the artist explains of his drawings, ‘Because they’re all mediated through old photos and postcards, which are often worn or battered, the blemishes come through in the drawing giving the image another layer of meaning. I make them with a type of magnifying glass called an Optivisor; it slips over your head like the type conservators use.’ Piet Mondrian’s proud stance among his geometric creations situates him as a master of modernity, evoking a life in glamorous step with his avant-garde artistic vision; James Ensor plays his organ like an operatic phantom beneath his 1889 masterpiece Christ’s Triumphant Entry Into Brussels. Otto Dix, Bruce Nauman, Paul Cézanne, Chris Burden, Edvard Munch and Vladimir Tatlin each receive similarly insightful treatment. Through his sensitive archival approach, Brooks explores the layered narratives of art history and the making of artists into celebrities.