Lot 54: GERALD FERGUSON (1937-2009), 1000 GRAPES, enamel on canvas, 15 ins x 15 ins; 38.1 cms x 38.1 cms

GERALD FERGUSON (1937-2009)1000 GRAPESenamel on canvassigned, titled and dated ‘98 on the reverse 15 ins x 15 ins; 38.1 cms x 38.1 cms Provenance:Private Collection, TorontoOlga Korper Gallery, TorontoLiterature:Diane Nemiroff, “Late Style in the Work of Gerald Ferguson,” in Journal of Canadian Art History, Vol. 21, Issue 1, 2000, pages 152-166.Gerald Ferguson was a highly acclaimed conceptual artist and an esteemed professor at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He was interested primarily in frottage, a technique in which involves rubbing lead or charcoal on paper placed on a textured surface. In his installation works, he explored the commodification of art and the ways in which the “artist’s hand” could be removed from the artistic process. 1,000 Grapes closely resembles Ferguson’s larger, iconic 1,000,000 Grapes from 1996-97. 1,000,000 Grapes was created as a series of 100 square canvases each entitled 10,000 Grapes. Diane Nemiroff, curator of the National Gallery of Canada at the time, explained it was a “sign of a late moment in the history of painting, marked not only by the end of representation but also by the subjugation of subjective expression to the objective order of painting itself.” The enamel paint in combination with the use of templates to create the shapes give the work an industrial character - allowing for, as Ferguson would say, “beauty through the back door.”Ferguson’s works are represented in many collections in Canada, the United States and Europe, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum Sztuki in Poland. His art has been exhibited at many prestigious institutions, including solo shows at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada. Estimate: $5,000–7,000