See the Top Lots of the Outset Contemporary Art Fund’s Stunning January Benefit Auction

Trisha Baga, Untitled (2014).

The Outset Contemporary Art Fund, an international independent charity supporting global arts initiatives, will host a swanky gala dinner and benefit auction in collaboration with the Phillips auction house at the legendary Dracula Club in St. Moritz on January 23.

All proceeds from the event will go towards Outset’s multitude of initiatives, including arts education funding, artist commissions and exhibitions, and support for institutional collections.

VIP guests will have the opportunity to bid on a dozen works by many of the art world’s hottest contemporary artists, including Anne Imhof (the winner of the Golden Lion prize at the 2017 Venice Biennale), Bunny Rogers, Monica Bonvicini, and others.

All bidders are required to register in advance. Absentee bidders are asked to submit a written application no later than 24 hours before the start of the sale, and all absentee and telephone bidders must fill out a bidding form. No buyer’s premiums will be charged for the auction.

Below, we’ve made a selection of the most exciting lots up for sale.

 

Lot 1: Bunny Rogers, Self-Portrait as Alone of Jeanne d’Arc (2014)

Bunny Rogers, Self-Portrait as clone of Jeanne d’Arc (2014)

Bunny Rogers, Self-Portrait as Clone of Jeanne d’Arc (2014).

A rising figure among a generation of post-Internet artists, Bunny Rogers often creates collages that blend versions of herself with the identities of others, filtered through the lens of her imagination and social-networking feeds. In the above fine-art print, she imagines herself as a digital clone of the French saint and military leader, Jeanne d’Arc.

 

Lot 2: Alexander Iskin, iPaint (2018)

Alexander Iskin, iPaint (2018)

Alexander Iskin, iPaint (2018).

Coining the term “Interrealism” to describe his paintings, Iskin creates works that inhabit the space between the physical world and virtual reality. His practice reflects on the upheaval caused when the two worlds collide, and the work up for auction depicts a painting viewed on a desktop computer, perfectly capturing the in-between state—real? unreal?—inaugurated by the digital age.

 

Lot 3: Bettina Rheims, Renne de profil en largeur (1994)

Bettina Rheims, Renne de profil en largeur (1994)

Bettina Rheims, Renne de profil en largeur (1994).

With a reputation as an art-world polymath, Rheims has worked as a model, journalist, gallerist, and artist. Since the 1980s, she has dedicated herself to photography, earning international plaudits beyond the borders of her native France. For the upcoming auction, the artist generously donated a photographic print of a reindeer from her Animal Series, dedicated to images of taxidermied animals.

 

Lot 4: Danni Pantel, When We Meet Mama God (2019)

Danni Pantel, When We Meet Mama God (2019)

Danni Pantel, When We Meet Mama God (2019).

German abstract artist Danni Pantel paints vibrantly colored organic forms on primed canvases. A self-taught artist, she made the unusual choice of consciously forgoing art school to maintain an independent sense of self-expression, unclouded by formal instruction. The present work is a highly characteristic example of her colorful abstractions.

 

Lot 5: Anne Imhof, Untitled (2017)

Anne Imhof, Untitled (2017)

Anne Imhof, Untitled (2017).

Imhof began making silkscreen paintings around the same time she represented Germany at the 2017 Venice Biennale, where she won the Golden Lion for the best presentation among the national pavilions. This work, rendered in red and pink, depicts Imhof’s muse, partner, and collaborator, Eliza Douglas, who also starred in Imhof’s unforgettable Venice performance.

 

Lot 6: Nicholas Cheveldave, Worm Hole Pt. 7 (2019)

Nicholas Cheveldave, Worm Hole Pt. 7 (2019)

Nicholas Cheveldave, Worm Hole Pt. 7 (2019).

Focusing on how mundane reality can be elevated to fine art, the Canadian-born, London-based artist Nicholas Cheveldave appropriates and reworks imagery from a wide range of everyday sources. This mixed-media work looks at green spaces, gardens, and allotments, woven into a complex tapestry to highlight the issues of rampant urban development and gentrification in modern cities.

 

Lot 7: Marcel Dzama, It’s Not Mountain You Conquer (2019)

Marcel Dzama, It’s Not Mountain You Conquer (2019)

Marcel Dzama, It’s Not Mountain You Conquer (2019).

Dzama blends a divergent range of influences—from mythology and folklore, to towering art-historical greats including Francisco Goya, William Blake, and Francis Picabia—to create a unique imagined world that combines the surreal with the familiar, and the ordered with the chaotic. The work on offer channels Caspar David Friedrich’s dreamy mountain imagery with childlike cartoons to create a composite that is uniquely Dzama’s.

 

Lot 8: Jan Paul Evers, American Boys (2016)

Jan Paul Evers, American Boys (2016)

Jan Paul Evers, American Boys (2016).

A multi-talented photographer who uses analog, digital, and found images, Jan Paul Evers captures unexpected perspectives on everyday objects, encouraging viewers to question the way they look at the world. While the picture on offer depicts the familiar motif of American flags, the resulting image is free from context and unfamiliar in its composition.

 

Lot 9: Monica Bonvicini, Belt Exercise #1 (2018)

Monica Bonvicini, Belt Exercise #1 (2018)

Monica Bonvicini, Belt Exercise #1 (2018).

An artist who frequently deals with themes of power, barriers, and control, Bonvicini often uses leather—alongside other imagery borrowed from S&M culture—as a metaphor for restriction. The present work, which appears to be made from leather, is actually made of bronze, emphasizing the rigidity of the themes that are the focus of Bonvicini’s work.

 

Lot 10: Michael Müller, Bangui (2019)

Michael Müller, Bangui (2019).

Michael Müller, Bangui (2019).

This painting from Michael Müller’s Vor und hinter dem Glas series (“in front of and behind the glass”) subverts glass—which typically separates viewers from artworks—by making it the medium of the artwork itself. At the same time, the transparency of the material gives viewers an insight into what (literally) lies behind the image.

 

Lot 11: Thea Djordjadze, Untitled (2009)

Thea Djordjadze, o.T. (2009).

Thea Djordjadze, Untitled (2009).

Primarily working in installation, Djordjadze makes highly considered arrangements of objects from unconventional materials. Her work is often ephemeral in nature and open to reconfiguration. The present example was created at an uncharacteristically livable scale, presenting an opportunity to acquire a work by the artist that can be displayed at home.

 

Lot 12: Trisha Baga, Untitled (2014, below); and Untitled (2014, top image)

Trisha Baga, Untitled (2014).

Trisha Baga, Untitled (2014).

Known for her performance and video installations, Baga incorporates elements of sculpture, painting, music, photography, and literature to explore contemporary events, idolatry, celebrity worship, and collective consciousness. The present lot consists of a pair of lenticular prints of Jesus and a leopard, presenting widely recognizable images from multiple warped perspectives.