1 / 4
Paris Oise Enchères
207
-
PAINTING “ABSURDITY OF POWER” by Benjamin SPARK (1969)
See original version (French)
207
-
PAINTING “ABSURDITY OF POWER” by Benjamin SPARK (1969)
See original version (French)
Estimate €500 - €700
Voluntary lot
Description
PAINTING “ABSURDITY OF POWER” by Benjamin SPARK (1969)
Mixed media on canvas, signed, dated “Sept 2026” and titled on the reverse.
Dimensions: 100 x 70 cm
Good condition
In the beginning, then, is Benjamin Spark, the hidden son who bursts onto the scene, already an adult, his mind and brush in turmoil,
a complete stranger yet strangely familiar. “The great artist is the one who wasn’t on the programme,” as the critic and novelist Guy Scarpetta likes to point out.
A son of Pop Art and Street Art, he embodies an unprecedented reconciliation between them – that of two cultures born of the street, one highbrow, the other lowbrow – an unlikely yet inevitable encounter between two movements driven by opposing forces.
He is undeniably a genre painter, focusing on the picturesque aspects of everyday life, but seen through the eyes of a very specific category of individuals: superheroes, of whom he adopts a thoroughly Warholian conception, viewing their supreme power as the ability to make a lasting impression and penetrate every layer of consciousness; Consequently, Superman is every bit as significant as Mao, the Chanel logo or John Lennon, and Spark adds to this list the idols of his own generation: Basquiat, Daft Punk and SpongeBob.
Spark admits: “Batman really moves me. He’s the only one without a superpower. To make up for that, he’s worked on his body and mind in a spirit of unity and harmony. And what’s more, he’s humble.”
One can see the influence of Gudmundur ERRÓ, and the two met in 2011 at his Paris studio.
Erro emphasises: “Benjamin Spark is someone who really knows how to draw and who has also developed considerably. I’ve only known him for three years, but in my entire career — and I’m eighty-three! — he’s the only artist who’s come to my studio to explain to me how he works.
Normally, painters keep their little secrets to themselves. He, however, explained everything to me, absolutely everything. The way he creates enlargements, the way he projects them like slides onto a screen, without hiding anything from me.
It’s the first time in my life that I’ve, in a way, gained such insight into an artist’s mind. He came with his computer and I had a feeling he was showing me a little of what was to come the next day!
We artists are always preoccupied with the future, with what comes next, but also with the idea that everything has already been done, that nothing more is possible, and so that future is a bit of a question mark."
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like