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Premium BONHAMS CORNETTE DE SAINT CYR

101 - 101. FUTURA 2000 (LEONARD McGURR) (N. 1955)
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Estimate €40,000 - €60,000
Sale commission
Description
101. FUTURA 2000 (LEONARD McGURR) (N. 1955) Untitled 1985 signed, titled and dated 1985 on reverse spray paint on canvas 132 x 132 cm. 51 15/16 x 51 15/16 in. Provenance Sale: New Orleans Auction Galleries, Louisiana, Fine Art Auction, 19 July 2020, lot 123 Acquired at this sale by the current owner Imbued with the effervescence of New York's burgeoning graffiti scene - from subways to city walls, even on clothes, to the hip-hop sound of boomboxes - Untitled, painted in 1985 by Futura 2000, transposes onto canvas the energy of a practice born in the street that gradually moved into the studio. Breaking away from the movement's traditional codes, centred on lettering, Futura 2000, whose name is Leonard Hilton McGurr, explores instinctive, gestural abstract painting, developing a unique pictorial style. At the centre of this emblematic canvas from the mid-1980s, a robotic silhouette recalls the figures explored by other iconic Urban Art artists such as Rammellzee and Dondi White. Wearing a cap and carrying an aerosol can, this figure literally seems to 'bug out' under the surging energy and vitality of graffiti culture. Produced a few years before the appearance of his Point-Man (in 1988), this profile bears witness to the painter's research into the figure, science and the universe. Like a vortex, the composition of Untitled seems to be animated by a perpetual rhythm. Broad black arcs cross the pictorial space, while diagonals, concentric circles and projections in an explosive palette of blue, green, yellow and orange-red create an impression of speed and tension. The spirals, dots and floating signs scattered across the canvas evoke the constellations and scientific diagrams dear to the artist, reinforcing the sense of a universe in constant evolution. A trailblazer, Futura 2000 contributed to the emergence of a new free art form, helping to get graffiti into galleries and institutions. In 1981, he exhibited his work at MoMA PS1 alongside Kenny Scharf, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, for the historic New York/New Wave exhibition, and the following year presented his first solo show at the Fun Gallery. Since then, his work has been the subject of exhibitions, at the Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam for example, and more recently, a major retrospective organised at La Fab. Fondation Agnès b. in 2025.
See original version (French)
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About the sale Post-War & Contemporary Art including the Cluzel Collection
Auction location
Auction time 06/04/2026 at 4:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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