Massimo Vitali: Arcadian Remains @Benrubi

JTF (just the facts): A total of 5 large scale color works, mounted to Diasec and not framed, and hung in the main gallery space. The chromogenic prints range in size from 71x89 to 76x100; 4 are single images and 1 is a diptych. The images were taken in Greece, Italy, and Spain in 2011, and are available in editions of 6. A companion exhibit of Vitali's works is on display at agnès b. Galerie Boutique (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Massimo Vitali's newest pictures find him parked in a familiar location: looking down from above on the vast seashore, where sparkling blue water meets sand and eroded rock, and where tiny people in colorful swimsuits cover the available land mass like packs of insignificant ants. As usual, the light is squint inducing, so bright and white that it is almost a physical presence, draping the scenes with washes of blinding glare.

The gallery press release calls Vitali's works "socio-landscapes", and my experience of these new pictures is that they have a bit more landscape in them than his previous photographs. The scale seems broader, the white cliffs and rock formations more like harsh moonscapes, the crashing waves more dramatic. The tiny figures seem almost like the minuscule people found in the foreground of a romantic landscape painting, only multiplied into crowds, with each individual sun bather or pair of lazy swimmers identifiable and unique. The caustic irony I have felt in his earlier photographs seems more muted here, the folly of humanity (when compared to the grandeur of nature) made even smaller and more unimportant.

All in all, Vitali hasn't strayed too far from the formula that brought him success in these new images, but he does seem to be bridging closer to traditional landscape forms than ever before. There are less miles of matching umbrellas and acres of human flesh in these pictures, and instead a more subtle tilt toward the timelessness of the land and sea.

Collector's POV: The single images in this show are priced at 30000€  or 40000€ based on the place in the edition; the diptych is 50000€. These prices are a decent step up from his last show at Benrubi. Vitali's work has become more routinely available at auction in recent years, with prices ranging from roughly $5000 to $80000.
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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
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Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)

Massimo Vitali: Arcadian Remains
Through February 4th

Bonni Benrubi Gallery
41 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Auction Results: First Open, September 22, 2010 @Christie's

The results for the photography buried in the First Open sale at Christie's in New York last week were generally solid, with the Total Sale Proceeds for the photo lots coming in above their pre-sale high estimate. The top lot Struth lent an important helping hand, with roughly $100K of over-the-estimate dollars to add to the pot.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 35

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $528000

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $775000

Total Lots Sold: 25

Total Lots Bought In: 10

Buy In %: 28.57%

Total Sale Proceeds: $787875

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 10

Low Sold: 7

Low Bought In: 3

Buy In %: 30.00%

Total Low Estimate: $69000

Total Low Sold: $78750

Mid Total Lots: 22

Mid Sold: 16

Mid Bought In: 6

Buy In %: 27.27%

Total Mid Estimate: $436000
Total Mid Sold: $380125

High Total Lots: 3

High Sold: 2

High Bought In: 1

Buy In %: 33.33%

Total High Estimate: $270000

Total High Sold: $329000

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 134, Thomas Struth, Kunsthistorisches Museum III, Vienna, 1989, at $100000-150000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $254500. The next highest lot by High estimate was lot 13, Vik Muniz, Marlene Dietrich (Pictures of Diamonds), 2004, at $40000-60000; it did not sell.

100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 2 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 30, Cindy Sherman, As Marilyn Monroe, 1982, at $20000 (image at right, via Christie's)

Lot 194, Massimo Vitali, Lernpark, 2001, at $35000 (image at right, top, via Christie's)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Christie's

20 Rockefeller Plaza

New York, NY 10020

Massimo Vitali: Landscape with Figures 2 @Benrubi

JTF (just the facts): A total of 6 large scale works, mounted to dibond plexi and not framed, and hung in the entry and main gallery spaces. Each of the chromogenic prints is 72x86; 5 are single images and there is one diptych. All of the works in the show were made in 2008 and 2009. A monograph of this work is being published by Steidl (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Massimo Vitali's recent images continue his signature combination of large scale photography and intricate detail, his locations once again covered by masses of people. Taken in Sicily and Turkey, these particular images depict the ruins of Ephesus, and various healing pools, sacred grottoes, and swimming locations.

What I like about Vitali's work is that from afar, his images have a sense of immense grandeur, the huge scale creating engrossing, eye-catching scenes (sometimes blindingly lit); up close, I've always found the pictures to border on the ridiculous, the crazy density of humanity literally overrunning every setting, no matter how beautiful or pristine. Tourism and consumerism are skewered quite neatly.

These new works are no different: tourists crawl over the historic library and amphitheatre at Ephesus (mixed together with acres of dusty rubble and tumbledown rocks) and swimmers of all shapes and sizes plunge into various waters, cavorting and frolicking literally on top of each other in the washed out brightness. The works seem to bring together the extra large museum images of Thomas Struth with the ironic tourist pictures of Martin Parr, with a dash of the over the top crowds at Coney Island of Weegee.

The works in this particular show are so large that they crowd each other a bit too much, creating a visual overload in the gallery; the prints are outsized for the display space - shown in a bigger room, they'd have much more room to breathe. Overall, while these works don't depart too far from Vitali's successful formula or show us much that is radically different from his earlier work, they hold up a mirror to ourselves, a potent reminder that we are not necessarily as unique as we might think; perhaps we too are unknowingly part of the thundering herds looking for the same banal entertainments and "memorable" experiences.

Collector's POV: The single images in this show are priced at 25000€ each; the diptych is 45000€. Vitali's work has become more and more available in the secondary markets in recent years and his prices have remained strong, ranging from $7000 to $80000.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Interview: Lens Culture (here)
• Foam exhibit, 2009 (here)
• Review: Guardian (here), 1000 Words (here)

Massimo Vitali: Landscape with Figures 2
Through February 27th

Bonni Benrubi Gallery
41 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022