• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
The Stand

The Stand

  • Upcoming
  • About Us

THE HEAD

19 August 2021 by

Curated by writer, editor and broadcaster Francesca Gavin, THE HEAD is The Stand’s second sale previewing online on Monday 6 September.

With a career spanning over 15 years Francesca Gavin is a trusted authority within the contemporary art world, and has worked with some of the most exciting rising stars working today. Gavin shares this knowledge and expertise in an auction which explores contemporary artists continued fascination with and exploration of the head.

  • LOTS
  • Auction Details
  • Conditions

THE HEAD

SALE CLOSED

"I think the current fascination with the head comes from an extended interest in our feelings of fragmentation to our own bodies; I think this is really about the wake of technology and its effects on the human body. I'm very conscious that we see ourselves as disembodied… desire is very much intertwined with the idea of the body in parts, but the head in particular is an incredibly ancient symbol of thought, philosophy, intelligence… the mind."  
- Francesca Gavin

Curated by writer, editor and broadcaster Francesca Gavin, THE HEAD is The Stand’s second sale previewing online on Monday 6 September.

With a career spanning over 15 years Francesca Gavin is a trusted authority within the contemporary art world, and has worked with some of the most exciting rising stars working today. Gavin shares this knowledge and expertise in an auction which explores contemporary artists continued fascination with and exploration of the head.

THE HEAD is inspired by The Head of a Philosopher, a bronze sculpture that was discovered on a shipwreck in 1969 in the straits of Messina. Artworks range from a brand new painting, The Curious Being, by Matthias Bitzer, busts by Steve Claydon which were previously exhibited on the High Line, New York NY, a print by pioneer of new media, Lynn Hershman Leeson and a painting of Paris Hilton’s sperm donor by Michael Fullerton. Estimates range from £2,000 to £35,000.

The depiction of the head is one of the oldest tropes in art history, a fundamental element in Ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Hellenistic sculpture and painting. The head is intertwined with ideas around power, politics, beauty, class, and intimacy. Francesca Gavin’s auction looks at how contemporary artists depict the head and how it reflects changes in society, philosophy, psychology, and centrally, art itself.

The Head of a Philosopher dating to around the fifth century, is a disembodied face of a man with an abundant curly beard which was discovered alongside a battered cloak and hand. The fragment, which is housed in the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in Calabria, has lost its wreath and the hair on the back of its head. Its left eye is an empty hole. This object is an apt metaphor for contemporary art’s take on the human head – thoughtful, beautiful, battered, ruined – and a reference for Gavin when composing the auction and selecting the artists.

The full list of artists include, Hannah Bays, Matthias Bitzer, Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom, Shary Boyle and Lido Pimienta, Mike Bouchet, Steven Claydon, Aleksandra Domanovic, Stephen Dunne, Celia Hempton, Tom Ellis, Michael Fullerton, Peter Funch, Emma Kohlmann, Phillip Groezinger, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Paul McDevitt, Lindsey Mendick, David Noonan, Seb Patane, Luke Rudolf, Francis Ruyter and Johnathan Yeo.

Francesca Gavin is a writer, editor and curator based in London and Vienna with a career that spans over 15 years. Francesca Gavin co-curated the Manifesta 11 The European Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2016 and numerous exhibitions worldwide including exhibitions at Somerset House, London, Palais de Tokyo, Paris and beyond. Francesca is Editor of LIMBO and Contributing Editor of How to Spend It magazine at The Financial Times, Twin, Kaleidoscope and Beauty Papers, whilst contributing to numerous digital and in print publications. She is the author of 8 books including 100 New Artists. Francesca has her own radio show Rough Version on NTS where she talks to contemporary artists about their work and music.

 




-
Join Us
Francis Ruyter
John Collier Jr.: Chacon, Mora County, New Mexico. A Spanish-American Rancher, 2018
David Noonan
Untitled, 2011
Shary Boyle and Lido Pimenta
Caminos y Capas / A Path Through the Layers, 2019
Phillip Groezinger
Dreaming of delightful times, 2021
Jonathan Yeo
Kristin Scott Thomas Study II, 2018
Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom
Before: Baste on Narration (Carmine Lake 2015)
Lynn Hershman Leeson
Missing Person Born 2019, 2021
Peter Funch
Suspecting Suspects
Tom Ellis
Self Portrait Leaving and Staying
Celia Hempton
Malta, 8th April 2017
Lindsey Mendick
Husk of a Woman, 2021
Michael Fullerton
Paris Hilton’s Sperm Donor (Dalofaelid Phenotype), 2019
Paul McDevitt
Notes to Self: 4 September 2014
Matthias Bitzer
The Curious Being
Hannah Bays
Hanging Light
Luke Rudolf
Face-to-face
Mike Bouchet
Kidman Bust (Trixie) 2011
Stephen Dunne
Fever Dream Diptych (Stasis:Schism), 2021
Steven Claydon
Unlimiteds and Limiters (Lustre)
Steven Claydon
Unlimiteds and Limiters (Lava)
Aleksandra Domanovic
Portrait (Kilim)
Seb Patane
Shaun
Seb Patane
Mr. Gerald Balfour
Emma Kohlmann
Blue Face, 2019

Footer Widget Header

Back to top

Footer

  • Upcoming
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe