Ohio Theater, Ohio, 1980 - Masterpiece from "Theatres" Series by Hiroshi Sugimoto to be Offered in Mallet Japan's Modern and Contemporary Auction in Tokyo

New York, NY, August 23, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The sale covers a wide range of items from Japanese, European, American and Asian art. From the Japanese art section, works by emerging artists such as Ayako Rokkaku (lot#249 'Untitled' 100,000-200,000JPY) as well as leading contemporary artists including Yoshitomo Nara (lot#271 'Untitled' 1,200,000-1,600,000JPY), Yayoi Kusama (lot#213 'Pistils and Stamens' 2,000,000-3,000,000JPY; lot#219 'Nets' 800,000-1,200,000JPY), Kazuo Shiraga (lot#221 'Work' 1,500,000-2,000,000JPY) and Takeo Yamaguchi (lot#278 'Floating' 10,000,000-15,000,000JPY) are to be presented. One of the highlights is a beautiful gelatin silver print by Japanese most well-known artist Hiroshi Sugimoto - "Ohio Theater, Ohio, 1980" (lot#231 2,500,000-3,500,000JPY).

Sugimoto whose inspiration owes great debt to the philosophy of Marcel Duchamp has gained a reputation for the conceptual and philosophical aspects of his work. He uses his camera as a means to capture time in photography, describing his work as an expression of ‘time exposed’. In his series "Theatres" which begun in 1978, he photographed old American movie theaters and drive-ins, exposing the film for the duration of the entire film while getting the light source sololy from the film projector. "Ohio Theater, Ohio, 1980" from the same series beautifully conveys the atmosphere and memory of this astonishing Spanish Baroque theater.

Highlights from the section of works by European and American artists include paintings by Andre Derain(lot#63 'Nu allonge s'appuyant sur un bras' 1,200,000-1,700,000JPY), Moise Kisling (lot#95 'L'Eglise au pied de la montagne' 5,000,000-7,000,000JPY), Paul Aizpiri (lot#10 'Figures' 1,500,000-2,000,000JPY; lot#11 'Le Pichet Allemand' 3,000,000-4,000,000JPY), Bernard Cathelin (lot# 44 'Nature morte rouge et noire a la grappe de raisin'; lot#50 'Anemones a la table noire' 2,500,000-3,000,000JPY each) and Jean Jansem(lot# 76 'Joelle assise' 1,000,000-1,500,000JPY). Also on offer is works on paper by Bernard Buffet (lot#22 'La plage' pencil/watercolor 1,500,000-2,500,000JPY) and Sol Lewitt (lot#99 'Color gouache with 19"(48.3cm) square with scribbles' 2,000,000-2,500,000JPY).

While offering a number of carefully selected works by established European and American artists, the sale also presents some interesting Indian and Sri Lanka contemporary art works including paintings by Paritosh Sen (lot#115 'Self portrait' 1,500,000-2,000,000JPY), Prokash Karmakar (lot#77 'Landscape' 800,000-1,200,000JPY) and George Keyt(lot#78 'Three female figures' 1,000,000-1,500,000JPY).

Auction Info: http://www.mallet.co.jp/index_e.html

For further media information and press images, please write to info@mallet.co.jp

For further auction information, please write to art@mallet.co.jp

To view list of works on offer, please visit http://www.mallet.co.jp/00_digest/index_e.html
Online catalogue at artnet.com http://www.artnet.com/PDB/PublicAuctionResults.aspx?collection_id=144124
Online catalogue at artfact.com http://www.artfact.com/catalog/searchLots.cfm?scp=c&catalogRef=BAI7VIVK4I

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