CHRISTIE'S PRESENTS MACABRE, CO-CREATED BY ARTIST BENJAMIN SPIERS
November 2022
Paula Rego, Wide Sargasso Sea, Christie’s Images Ltd, 2022. Cover image: Jacob Isaacsz.van Swanenburgh, Sinners being punished in Hell, Christie’s Images Ltd, 2022
Christie’s is currently showcasing Macabre, an unsettling selling exhibition co-curated by the British artist Benjamin Spiers. The exhibition, presented at Christie’s headquarters in London until 9th December 2022, explores the artistic treatment of the macabre through the ages, showcasing 60 works spanning 500 years. Expect to see fantastical relics of bygone eras and modern cutting-edge creations, including Paula Rego’s Wide Sargasso Sea (2000) and Otto Dix’s Neue Sachlichkeit masterpiece Sitzender rothaariger Akt mit Strümpfen vor rosa Touch (1930).
Viewers and collectors can explore humanity’s collective fascination with the curious, peculiar and mysterious. Benjamin Spiers showcases an exploration of the pursuit of the macabre in his own work and that of his contemporaries. Spiers has integrated a selection of contemporary artists with an array of works spanning centuries and mediums with the intention to fuse dialogues and perspectives on the macabre throughout the ages.
Benjamin Spiers says, “The macabre takes painting and literature to a place it has never been before. It is very playful, as well as being quite troubling, when there is something in a painting that is unpalatable, it is often the most exciting element. The macabre is often the kind of focus for that emotion and that thought. It breaks something open and allows it to become much more meaningful and radical.”
Christie’s, 8 King Street, St. James's, London SW1Y 6QT
