Oil, enamel, pencil on canvas

117 x 127.5 cm. 46 × 50 1/4 in.

Signed and located in English, dated on the reverse
EXHIBITED
May – Jun 2007, Shara Hughes: Everything, always…, Rivington Arms Gallery, New York

PROVENANCE
Rivington Arms Gallery, New York
Acquired directly by original collector from the above
19 May 2017, Sotheby's New York Spring Auction, Lot 401
Important Private Collection, Asia

The Clouds Roll by in the Sky
Walking through Shara Hughes' Portal of Time

“Within an interior, you can make a landscape through a window or you can make another person's painting within the painting, or you can paint figures or not… Interiors became the foundation where I could lay all different artists who have come before me into and onto the painting.”
——Shara Hughes

On 10 May 2022, Hughes' Spins from Swiss set a world record for a solo sale at US$2,940,000. This young female artist from the United States, with her strong, vivid colours, reveals her keen insight into light and form, as well as her profound knowledge of art history. Her work opens the door to the imagination between abstract and figurative landscapes, and she is regarded as one of the most exciting young contemporary artists of the 21st century. Hughes' work can be found in numerous prestigious museum collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and The X Museum, Beijing.

Born in 1981 in Atlanta, Georgia, Hughes studied Fine Art at the Rhode Island School of Design. After graduating in 2004, she had her first solo exhibition at the Rivington Arms Gallery in New York in 2007, which was widely acclaimed. The Rock Collection, which we present at this autumn auction, is a representative work from this exhibition and is of great significance to the artist.

The Pursuit of the Blue Sea and Sky

“I've always wanted to immerse the viewers in my paintings without them having the choice to enter. In the past many of my works involve somewhat of a border or entryway into the paintings. There is a barrier, a cave, a tree, a bush, something you are looking around to enter into the painting. Without knowing it you are already inside my world. My paintings have always been vertical to create this window or doorway effect.”
——Shara Hughes

Looking at Hughes' early work, she uses vibrant, bright colours and multiple perspectives to create dazzling images. The Rock Collection embodies this typical characteristic. With a strong surrealist atmosphere, the work creates a connection between the inside and outside by breaking down and rearranging the space. The natural environment is connected from the interior to the exterior. The wooden Romanesque semi-circular archway appears on the far left of the painting, echoing the granite wall on the right, and focusing the viewer on the centre of the painting: the sea view through a floor-to-ceiling window. The sea, the sky and the beach are divided into three main colours. The contrast between the clean composition of the outdoor space and the sophisticated style of the interior is so striking that one can't help appreciating it.

The Rhythm of Shapes and Colours in a Different World

The interior landscape forms a unique rhythm of shapes and colours. On the granite wall, a white irregularly shaped block is placed horizontally, which at first glance looks like a bolt of lightning. On closer inspection, the vague black straight lines give a powerful convex visual effect. In addition, the eye-catching pieces of rocks in different sizes and colours on the round table are an organic combination of lines, forming a rich texture on the smooth tabletop, like a musical note to form the ups and downs of rhythms, impacting the viewer's vision and soul. The culture of stone appreciation has its own origins in the East and the West, and through dialogue with stones, we peep into the wonders of nature and enter into a poetic ancient fantasy. The artist also takes this opportunity to link up the historical traces of humanities and nature, and cleverly connects the three time sequences of the past, the present, and the future.

A Tribute to Hockney

Inspired by Western art history, Hughes grounds her paintings in the rich tradition of interior paintings. Her early interiors such as Rock Collection are often characterised as “Hockney-esque”. The seemingly unusual context of presenting two very different landscapes on the same surface is indeed a subtle echo of Hockney's unconventional and playful interior paintings. In this painting, the flow of the sea and the silence of the indoor space form a confrontation, pulling out the tension between motion and stillness. The artist has constructed a doorway beyond time and space on the limited flat space, preserving the memories in the rocks.

Price estimate:
HKD 2,200,000 – 3,200,000
USD 282,100 – 410,300