CRASH (b. 1961)

Christie’s is delighted to present an outstanding selection of works from the personal collection of an artist, which will be offered across our First Open and Modern British auctions in London. A pioneering Pop artist whose work embodied and refracted the world’s dynamism, he began his career at the Slade School of Art, studying under Frank Auerbach. His collection incorporates several studies by Auerbach, while the works of other mentors, great influences, and close friends draw the thread of this personal collection together. From Auerbach’s frenetic studies to Henry Moore’s sculptural images and the lively portraits by Jean Dubuffet, many of the works here revel in an abstracted language, echoed in the artist’s own practice. Yet the collection never completely abandons the figurative, as seen, for example, in Eduardo Paolozzi’s Standing Figure, 1956, or in the collages of the collector's close friend Christo, which renders the midwestern landscape in stark, precise lines. The bright colours of the compositions of Roger Hilton and CRASH are a brighter vision of the contemporary world and bear a chromatically similar palette to the artist’s own. Coming together in a vivid ensemble, the collection presents the greatest inspirations of an artist and his understanding of art as a personal expression.