Details
Mario Schifano (1934-1998)
Untitled
signed 'Schifano' (lower edge)
enamel on canvas
37⅜ x 39⅜in. (95 x 100cm.)
Executed in 1979-1981
Provenance
Private Collection, Rome.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1993.
Special notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
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Lot Essay

Executed between 1979 and 1981, Untitled relates to Mario Schifano’s series of works based on the iconic Coca-Cola logo. Featuring only a fragment of the brand name, rendered with expressive painterly strokes, it demonstrates the artist’s desire to interrogate the relationship between consumerist iconography and fine art during the post-war period. Though Schifano’s collages and paintings are generally associated with the global rise of Pop Art during the 1960s, his approach differs from that of his American contemporaries such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. In the aftermath of the Second World War, many European countries saw a rise in Communist party politics that reviled the spread of global marketing, viewing products such as Coca-Cola as one of the leading symbols of capitalist colonisation. Situated within this context, Schifano’s use of the logo takes on a complex socio-political dimension that works in counterpoint with its visual qualities.
Post Lot Text
This work is registered in the Archivio Mario Schifano, Rome, under number 03549170923 and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot. You must pay us an extra amount equal to the resale royalty and we will pay the royalty to the appropriate authority. Please see the Conditions of Sale for further information.

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