Paul Fryer Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Paul Fryer Art Value Price Guide

Sep. 19, 2024
NO RESERVE: Paul Fryer (b. 1963), Leiter
Est: £800 - £1,200
Paul Fryer (b. 1963) Leiter, 2006 Vitrine, HV transformers, phenolic composite, cables and acrylic To be sold without reserve The present work consists of a dangerous, destructive force beautifully housed in a tall, elegant, protective glass casing. The rods, once they are injected with high volts, create an irresistible surge or electrical power that connects them, forming a ladder-like step of pure maniacal energy and light, sometimes scaling the entire work.’ (D. Ward, ‘By Way of Introduction’, in P. Fryer, Radiations, London, 2007, p. 8.) Harlech writes: ‘Leiter is the German word for ladder. Something as Platonically simple as a chair or a table, objects that recur in Fryer’s work, are obdurately ordinary, but when they are illuminated or put into a different perspective, they always seem to communicate unnervingly: the atoms of the structure are revealed, and we see the energy within...’ As Harlech has explained: ‘Leiter was originally made in Berlin, hence the German name. It is a monumental vitrine, inside which power runs continuously upwards in the form of a writing plasma flame. An arc is generated between two rods inside the glass box, and it rises because the hot air rises, drawing it upwards. It looks like a beautiful Japanese recreation of a tool from Dr. Frankenstein’s lab, or an elegant, oversized cigarette lighter. They used to call this kind of electrical curio a ‘Jacob’s Ladder’. In some ways, Leiter is nothing more than a beautiful and simple sculpture that incorporates this phenomenon. But is has been tuned so that once in a while, the arc travels all the way to the top of the cabinet and breaks out like an underpowered phoenix. Yet so many arcs struggle in vain, and are extinguished before they reach the top. When one makes it, the rarity of the event cannot fail to imbue it with some kind of meaning. The fact that the flame’s escape is meaningful seems to suggest that all we can do is persevere. It is aspiration in perfect focus.’ (A. Harlech, ‘Wreathes and Nests’, in P. Fryer, Radiations, London, 2007, p. 15.) The artist has described the visual force of Leiter: ‘The flame seems to struggle [...] I always think of it as striving. It seems like it’s trying to get to the top, and people seem to be willing it to go higher, but it doesn’t always do it. Maybe once in 70 times it goes to the top, maybe not even that […] We could make it go to the top every time if we wanted, but I like the idea that it struggles. It struggles against what is essentially nothing. The last stage [in creating these works] is often tuning these things to get the right emotion from people, so there’s actually something for people to engage with. And this, for instance: going all the way to the top every time wouldn’t be the same piece; it wouldn’t be worth doing.” (P. Fryer and C. Dancer, ‘In Conversation’, in P. Fryer, Radiations, London, 2007, p. 15.) We are grateful to Paul Fryer for his assistance in the preparation of this catalogue entry. Dimensions: (Vitrine) 61 x 30.5 x 296.5 cm. (24 x 12 x 116 7/10 in.) (Plinth) 120 x 90 x 50 cm. (471/5 x 352/5 x 197/10 in.)
Sloane Street Auctions
Sep. 19, 2024
NO RESERVE: Paul Fryer (b.1963), Perpetual Study in Defeat
Est: £800 - £1,200
Paul Fryer (b.1963) Perpetual Study in Defeat, 2006 Glass, aluminium, vacuum gear, computer, high voltage transformer, tantalum grids Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Exhibited: Gloucestershire, Sudeley Castle, Reconstruction 1, 1 July – 31 Oct. 2006; London, Fire Station 1 Chiltern Street, Paul Fryer: Potential and Ground, 8 Feb. – 10 March 2007. London, One Marylebone, The Age of the Marvellous, 14 – 22 Oct. 2009. Dimensions: 45 x 45 x 149 cm. (17¾ x 17¾ x 58¾ in.) ‘Fryer’s Perpetual Study pulsates with a luminous breathing glow. Staring into the baby star, we climb momentarily clear of the world’s edge on a vertical rainbow, peeling away the cosmos in the heart’s jam jar. It reels you into its mystery. You are involved in something you perceive as natural and supernatural at the same time, yet something assembled out of the nuts and bolts and wires of our existent world. How strange! In this way, the life-support system of science produces art’ (A. Harlech, ‘Wreathes and Nests’, in P. Fryer, Radiations, London, 2007, p. 14.) Hans Ulrich Obrist has described the hypnotic effect of the work: ‘There’s something about the rate at which the star breaths...Almost appearing to be alive...it’s […] you just get drawn in. I actually noticed after a while that I’d synchronised my breathing to the rate of the star’s breathing.’ (H. Ulrich Obrist, P. Fryer & C. Dancer, “In Conversation”, from P. Fryer, Radiations, London, 2007, p. 18.) As Paul Fryer has explained: ‘The star in a jar is basically a simple fusion reactor in a bell jar. What you see when the machines are activated is a small sun inside a glass dome in a vacuum almost as empty as outer space. The work comprises two sets of metal hoops (or grids), one 12 inches in diameter and the other, the central grid, approximately one fifth of this. These are contained within a borosilicate glass jar, which is connected to a high-vacuum system. Then the air is pumped from the system, and the inner grid is charged to around -8kV in waves that last about seven seconds. The outer grid remains earthed, and so any residual particles of gas are accelerated at close to the speed of light towards the centre of the inner grid, where they collide and form a superheated plasma ball. This happens because there is nothing to stop them being accelerated, and the vacuum also insulates the heat, which quickly builds up due to these collisions and the accompanying shock and compression waves. Temperatures of 10,000,000˚C are easily exceeded, this being proved by the readiness with which deuterium will fuse when introduced into a system like this. It is not a thing we would normally observe from closer than 93,000,000 miles. It is a tiny nuclear furnace held in place by the mysterious forces of electrostatic confinement, a ball of incandescent elemental gas stripped of its electrons...’ (P. Fryer and C. Dancer, quoted in A. Harlech, ‘Wreathes and Nests’, in P. Fryer, Radiations, London, 2007, pp. 13-14.). We are grateful to Paul Fryer for his assistance with the preparation of this catalogue entry. To be sold without reserve
Sloane Street Auctions
Mar. 13, 2024
λ PAUL FRYER (BRITISH B. 1963), ECCE HOMO, 2006
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
λ PAUL FRYER (BRITISH B. 1963)ECCE HOMO, 2006Vitrine, Japanese lacquered cabinet, black thorn crown, goose egg, black cellulose paint, Kevlar thread and epoxy resin45.5 x 41 x 41cm (17¾ x 16 x 16 in.)Overall (including plinth): 145 x 41 x 41cm (57 x 16 x 16 in.)Provenance:Private Collection, UKExhibited:London, Fire Station, 1 Chiltern Street, Paul Fryer: Potential and Ground, February - March 2007Winchcombe, Sudeley Castle, Phillips de Pury & Company, Reconstruction 3, June - October 2008Florence, Gucci Museo, Paul Fryer: Lo Spirito Vola, March -November 2012After attending Leeds College of Art in the 1980s alongside Damien Hirst, Paul Fryer became an electro-pop singer and transvestite DJ, founding the famous Kit Cat Club in Leeds. After moving to London he started designing books and other printed materials for artists, fashion houses and record labels, and his book of poetry, Don't Be So..., was illustrated by Damien Hirst and published by Trolley Books in 2001. His art engages with Christian Gnosticism and cutting-edge scientific research - ideas which come together in one of Fryer's most important works: Ecce Homo.
Dreweatts 1759 Fine Sales
Oct. 25, 2023
λ PAUL FRYER (BRITISH B. 1963), ECCE HOMO, 2006
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
λ PAUL FRYER (BRITISH B. 1963)ECCE HOMO, 2006Vitrine, Japanese lacquered cabinet, black thorn crown, goose egg, black cellulose paint, Kevlar thread and epoxy resin45.5 x 41 x 41cm (17¾ x 16 x 16 in.)Overall (including plinth): 145 x 41 x 41cm (57 x 16 x 16 in.)Provenance:Private Collection, UKExhibited:London, Fire Station, 1 Chiltern Street, Paul Fryer: Potential and Ground, February - March 2007Winchcombe, Sudeley Castle, Phillips de Pury & Company, Reconstruction 3, June - October 2008Florence, Gucci Museo, Paul Fryer: Lo Spirito Vola, March -November 2012After attending Leeds College of Art in the 1980s alongside Damien Hirst, Paul Fryer became an electro-pop singer and transvestite DJ, founding the famous Kit Cat Club in Leeds. After moving to London he started designing books and other printed materials for artists, fashion houses and record labels, and his book of poetry, Don't Be So..., was illustrated by Damien Hirst and published by Trolley Books in 2001. His art engages with Christian Gnosticism and cutting-edge scientific research - ideas which come together in one of Fryer's most important works: Ecce Homo.
Dreweatts 1759 Fine Sales
Jan. 20, 2021
λ PAUL FRYER (BRITISH B.1963), RED SUN (2012)
Est: £5,000 - £8,000
PAUL FRYER (BRITISH B.1963)RED SUN (2012)Lectilinear electronical Installation139 x 137cm (54½ x 53¾ in.) Please Note: The title should read Red Sun (2012) and not as stated in the printed catalogue.
Dreweatts 1759 Fine Sales
Apr. 28, 2019
PAUL FRYER (né en 1963) - Gnostic Symbol, 2005.
Est: €7,000 - €9,000
PAUL FRYER (né en 1963) Gnostic Symbol, 2005. Technique mixte. Œuf, mousse, brindilles, plumes, assiettes, verre, kevlar. Gemengde techniek. Ei, mos, twijgers, veren, platen, glas, Kevlar. 40,5 x 45 x 45 cm Provenance/Herkomst : T1+2 Gallery, Londres. Collection privée, Bruxelles.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr-Bruxelles
Dec. 11, 2013
Paul Fryer
Est: £2,000 - £3,000
THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH NO RESERVE Scientia Gratia Scientis
Phillips
Feb. 16, 2012
PAUL FRYER
Est: £8,000 - £12,000
B. 1963 GROUND EFFECT bird's egg, spun kevar, twigs and moss in glass box on wooden plinth 181 by 51 by 52cm.; 71 1/4 by 20 1/8 by 20 1/2 in. Executed in 2005.
Sotheby's
Oct. 17, 2009
And There Shall Be No Death, 2008
Est: £8,000 - £12,000
SOLD TO BENEFIT THE EMERGENCY CHARITABLE ORGANISATION And There Shall Be No Death, 2008 Egg, nest, kevlar thread in Plexiglas case on wooden base. Overall: 126 x 26 x 26 cm. (49 5/8 x 10 1/4 x 10 1/4 in).
Phillips