RICHARD HAMBLETON (1952-2017)
Untitled (from the Battle Painting Series)
1983

signed and dated 83 on the reverse
acrylic and plastic figurines on canvas

96 1/8 by 40 in.
244.1 by 101.6 cm.
Footnotes:
We would like to thank Woodward Gallery for their assistance cataloguing this work.

Provenance
Private Collection, US (acquired from the artist in 1983)
Private Collection, Norway
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2002

Exhibited
New York, Piezo Electric/Civilian Warfare, Richard Hambleton, 1983


Recognized as the godfather of street art, Richard Hambleton's earliest known works first appeared in the mid-1970s when chalk outlines of bodies, à la crime scene victims, were spotted in major cities across the United States and Canada. Hambleton's work was conceptual in nature and theatrical in its purpose, startling those who happened upon it. In the early 1980s, these silhouettes climbed onto buildings, walls, and alleys taking the shape of mysterious and stark black figures. With bold and gestural strokes of black paint, drips and splattered heads, Hambleton left his mark on the East Village of Manhattan. 'Since his painted figures have made such an impact on the many thousands who have seen them, often with the flash fear of being mugged, eventual psycho/socio-decoding would be in order. Hambleton has proven to be emotionally effective at what he does' (Howard Smith, 'Chasing Shadows', The Village Voice, 6 July 1982).

As Hambleton's work became his signature on the urban landscape, and in turn a symbol of New York's energetic street scene, he began putting his iconic Shadowman motif onto canvas. Hambleton's seminal paintings from the early 1980s are more than provocative splashes of paint on canvas. They are time capsules that illustrate a very particular cultural zeitgeist of fear and paranoia. It was a decade fraught with recessions and political unrest while America's youth was devasted by drugs and the AIDS Epidemic. In September 1983, the owners of Civilian Warfare Gallery teamed up with Piezo Electric Gallery to host a solo show for Hambleton. The exhibition featured a never-before-seen group of four large panels depicting a battle scene, one of which was the present Untitled work. Each of the four panels is embedded with dozens of green plastic action figures wielding various weapons. Viewed as a group, they created an impressive, panoramic, and chaotic vision of the fog of war. The subject of the series not only reflects the period but speaks to Hambleton's own tumultuous life; his personal battle with drug use, his health, and the art world as a whole. Only five battle scene paintings are known to have been executed by Hambleton in his lifetime. They represent some of his most visually exciting and politically pointed imagery. Critic and Curator Carlo McCormick recounted his experience viewing Richard's rare battle scene imagery, 'The result is an abstract depiction of a nightmarish scene'.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: W
W If the lot is not picked up immediately following the auction it may be removed to an offsite storage location for collection. Please contact the salesroom location for further details including dates of removal and applicable charges.