Anthony Goicolea (b. 1962)
Arena Triptych
acrylic and ink on C-print, in three parts
left: 50⅛ x 70in. (127.2 x 177.7cm.)
centre: 50 x 74¾in. (127 x 190cm.)
right: 50⅛ x 70in. (127.2 x 177.7cm.)
Executed in 2008, this work is number one from an edition of three plus two artist's proofs, all uniquely painted

PROVENANCE

Haunch of Venison, London.

EXHIBITED

London, Haunch of Venison, Related, 2008.

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SPECIALIST NOTES

Throughout Anthony Giocolea’s artistic career his photographs have delved into themes of memory and nostalgia, using drawings, painting, installation and also photography in order to investigate his family history and feelings of alienation. Born in America but of Cuban descent, in May 2008, the artist made his first pilgrimage to Cuba and visited the spaces and locations which were home to his parents and grandparents. The resulting photographs, of which Arena Triptych is a part, are digitally cobbled together from locations throughout Havana. Goicolea further manipulates these images by painting over small voids of space or drawing on top of the doctored images, thus re-imagining and re-imaging the remains from another time. Although the artist is nowhere to be seen, and indeed the spaces are devoid of any people, by rearranging buildings and adding graffiti to already ruined walls, he uses genealogy, archaeology, and horror to explore his Cuban heritage and construct a mature, staged self-portrait, building on his celebrated practice of using re-imaging himself in various scenes of suburban prepubescence.

In Arena Triptych, Goicolea addresses the conflict between presence and absence in the abandoned meeting space. Each part of the curvilinear auditorium is shot in sharp relief: the three arranged together comprise the bare architectural bones of the construction. Goicolea creates a visual pun, marking his own work with delicately wrought graffiti of the human skeleton. Each now barren and bare, the sketches of a skeletal arm and pelvis in ink and acrylic over the photograph imposes further the building’s bare, fragmented quality, devoid of human presence yet created for human use. Speaking of his works from around this period, the artist noted, ‘The work is less narrative than the earlier ones. I would say that they’re probably a little bit more formalist, although initially they might seem reality. I think my photos are becoming more painterly in the way I am shooting them and putting them together, because I’m creating these environments that don’t actually exist – it’s like making something from scratch’ (A. Goicolea, quoted in Y. Tsitsovits, ‘Anthony Goicolea’, in Anthony Goicolea, exh. cat., Postmasters Gallery, New York, 2007, p. 3).

These themes were also encapsulated in his series entitled Related, 2008 where the artist includes ghost like sketches of people within the isolated photograph to once again draw this parallel between presence and absence of the human within space. The artist writes, ‘In my work, I like the level ambiguity. I like the contrast between an image that’s beautiful in composition or colour and an act that seems grotesque or dangerous’ (A. Goicolea, quoted in Y. Tsitsovits, ‘Anthony Goicolea’, in Anthony Goicolea, exh. cat., Postmasters Gallery, New York, 2007, p. 7).

Arena Triptych is one of our sale specialist, Amanda Lo Iacono’s, sale highlights. Read more about this piece and her other picks here.

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