Richard Estes painting in Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art sale May 12th

   A 2007 painting from the Antarctica series will go under the hammer at Christie's New York on May 12th. Antarctica VI was one of eleven paintings that were exhibited at the Marlborough Gallery in 2008.

   From the Lot Notes:
    'Richard Estes' cinematic portrayal of Antarctica in Antarctica VI is one of the largest and grandest of the Antarctica series. Antarctica VI introduces Estes as an extremely accomplished painter of landscape, in this instance Estes' focus is on a desolate and transient antarctic ice-shelf, ever shifting in form while adrift at sea. The subject of this painting is most curious as it appears to deviate quite strongly from the work that we are used to seeing by the artist, compressed city scapes shattered by impossibly complex mirror, glass and enamel reflections.
    Antarctica VI is incredibly effective in its well-considered format and composition. Estes places the viewer in his shoes, in the moment, as an explorer recording a remote and hostile environment with a handheld camera. We can deduce that the camera is being held out at arm's length to best capture the landscape yet still including a sliver of the passenger boat at far right so as to keep us grounded and in "the moment", not one of complete transcendence, he gets us close but ultimately holds back from the idealised pastiche of 19th century landscape painting.

   The painting is estimated at US$450,000-550,000.

   You can see all the paintings from the Antarctica series as well as dozens of other ones by Richard Estes here.