Contemporary Art Auction

April 11, 2016

LOT 36

Lot 36

ATTILA RICHARD LUKACS

ATTILA RICHARD LUKACS
Lot 36 Details
ATTILA RICHARD LUKACS

UNTITLED #4; UNTITLED #5

mixed media on canvas
signed with initials and dated 2011 on the reverse; titled in ink on the stretcher
16 ins x 16 ins; 40.6 cms x 40.6 cms

Estimate $1,500-$2,000

Realised: $2,040
Price Includes Buyer's Premium ?

Lot Report

Additional Images
ATTILA RICHARD LUKACS
  • ATTILA RICHARD LUKACS
  • ATTILA RICHARD LUKACS
  • ATTILA RICHARD LUKACS
Provenance:

Private Collection, Toronto

Note:

Attila Richard Lukacs (b. 1962) is a legendary living artist. With a storied biography and reputation rivaling some of his most fantastical depictions, the Vancouver-based artist of international renown is, in recent years, moving his needle to more grounding and bucolic depictions.

A graduate of Vancouver’s Emily Carr College of Art + Design in 1985, Lukacs enjoyed early success as a member of the Young Romantics and then moved quickly to West Berlin, where he would build his name over the course of ten years. His most famous work consisted of mural-scaled figurative paintings depicting homoerotic abjection, indolent heroics, and contemporary allegory. The bruised seething of Lukacs’s canvases gained in credibility in the context of Germany, over Alberta, of course. The wall had come down, and Lukacs’s dark narratives featured eroticized Nazi skinheads. They implied a lust less for a fight than a fate worth fighting for.

Lukacs’s “fight” would take him to New York, the depths of drug abuse, and near career annihilation. He’d eventually come up for air in Hawaii, where he would turn, in the min-aughts, to grey-scale abstracts, ink drawings, and later, semi-figurative gardens hewn in verdant greens and yellows. He was straining at Eden.

Untitled #4 and #5 (2011) suggest the calm of this period, a fluidity to Lukacs’s hand, the freedom of his gesture. Consistently pulling from Eastern spirituality and symbolism through his winding practice, the abstract suggestions of bamboo, veins, or waterways, is evident in these loose drawings. We can infer a freeing-up and a settling-down of this riven life, a kind of essentialized, even tantric reforming.

Atilla Richard Lukacs (b. 1962, Edmonton) has been collected by the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Vancouver Art Gallery, among other institutions. He is a graduate of Emily Carr College of Art + Design, and has exhibited internationally. He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1997.

CONDITION DETAILS

For condition information please contact the specialist.

LOT 36
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About Condition Ratings

  • 5 Stars: Excellent - No discernable damage, flaws or imperfections
  • 4 Stars: Very Good - Minor flaws or imperfections visible only under close inspection using specialised instruments or black light
  • 3 Stars: Good - Minor flaws visible upon inspection under standard lighting
  • 2 Stars: Fair - Exhibits flaws or damage that may draw the eye under standard lighting
  • 1 Star: Poor - Flaws or damage immediately apparent under standard lighting (examples: missing components, rips, broken glass, damaged surfaces, etc.)

Note: Condition ratings and condition details are the subjective opinions of our specialists and should be used as a guide only. Waddington’s uses due care when preparing condition details, however, our staff are not professional restorers or conservators. Condition details and reports are not warranties and each lot is sold “as is” in accordance with the buyer’s terms and conditions of sale. In all cases the prospective purchaser is responsible for inspecting the property themselves prior to placing a bid.