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Premium BONHAMS CORNETTE DE SAINT CYR

102 - 102. 102AR INVADER (B. 1969) Portrait of Caty 1997 signed, t…
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Estimate €35,000 - €55,000
Sale commission
Description
102. 102AR INVADER (B. 1969) Portrait of Caty 1997 signed, titled, dated June 97 and inscribed 97 selavy for KTK on reverse mosaic on panel mounted on stretcher 73.5 x 60 cm. 28 15/16 x 23 5/8 in. We would like to thank the artist's studio for the information they kindly provided about this work. Provenance Given by the artist to the current owner in 1997 Bibliography Hans Ulrich Obrist, Invader: In Conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, London 2024, p. 194, no. 146, illustrated in colour (titled Cathy) Created at the dawn of the artist's first years of activity, Caty, created by Invader in 1997, is a rare work, born in the intimacy of the studio, shortly before the installation of his first mosaic in the public space. While Invader's work is now inseparable from references to pop culture figures and the world of video games, Caty reveals a more introspective dimension to his work, at a time when the artist was still developing the plastic principles that would make him famous. This composition is a precious testimony to the French artist's early research, exploring an almost unprecedented theme in his work, that of the personal portrait. Here, the mosaic gives shape to a female figure. Each tessera contributes to a subtle tension between presence and disappearance, in which the figure seems both to withdraw and to reveal itself. The portrait evokes a series of discreet references. The work has its origins in a photograph taken in a photo booth, capturing the spontaneity of a suspended moment. The inscription 'sélavy' on the reverse of the composition evokes the work of Marcel Duchamp and his iconic photographic portraits of his female alter ego, Rrose. Witness to the meeting of two artistic sensibilities, this historic piece contains all the codes of Invader's visual vocabulary: fragmentation of the image, pixel aesthetics, use of the mosaic, a deliberately reduced palette and strikingly immediate visual power. The chromatic tones experimented with in Caty would reappear in certain urban mosaics from 1998, such as PA_52 and PA_74, affirming the continuity of this studio work, which has remained in the same private collection since the year of its creation. The artist has been honoured by numerous exhibitions in museums such as MaMo (Marseille), MGLC (Ljubljana) and Mima (Brussels), as well as in major international galleries, and is currently showing Triple Trouble alongside Damien Hirst and Shepard Fairey in London.
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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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