Allan McCollum

Born in Los Angeles in 1944, Allan McCollum developed a body of work that was presented in solo exhibitions from the early years of his career: the first took place in 1970, and the Sidney Janis Gallery hosted his first New York exhibition in 1972. In 1975, his work was included in the Whitney Biennial, the year he moved to New York; he later took part in the «Aperto» section of the Venice Biennale in 1988.

From the late 1970s, the Surrogate Paintings, a series begun in 1978, assumed an important place in his practice. Through casting and the reuse of forms, McCollum questions the uniqueness of the artwork and its reproducibility, as well as the ways in which art is produced, disseminated, acquired, presented and read.

From 1982, he made the Plaster Surrogates by casting Surrogate Paintings, then assembled them into installations whose composition varied from one exhibition to another. Other series explore different processes: begun in 1981, the Glossies are ink and watercolour drawings on paper covered with a transparent plastic film; the Drawings, started in 1988, are pencil drawings that evoke heraldic forms. With the Perfect Vehicles, cast-plaster vases, the installation takes on a serial scale, with the objects presented by the thousand.

In 1998, the Musée d’Art moderne de Lille, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, devoted an exhibition to his work, bringing together installations composed of elements from different series.

Works recorded at auction

Genève Enchères · Lot 113

Perfect Vehicle Large LPV 21132-10

Acrylic

Original catalogue wording

Perfect Vehicle Large LPV 21132-10
acrylique

Catalogue period : 2025-05-14

Published result : 13000 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 8000–12000

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