Miquel Barceló (b. 1957), Bodegón Chínois avec Buda (Chinese Still Life with Buddha).  Christie's Images Ltd 2012

signed, titled and dated 'BARceló BODEGÓN CHÍINOIS avec BUDA PARIS XI.85' (on the reverse); mixed media on canvas; 76¾ x 118in. (195 x 300cm.). Executed in 1985. Estimate £300,000 - £400,000

Provenance: Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich.

Private Collection, London.

Anon. sale, Sotheby's London, 22 June 2005, lot 44.

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner. 

Literature: Miquel Barceló 1987-1997, exh. cat., Barcelona, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 1998 (illustrated within the artist studio, p. 248).

Miquel Barceló, Obra sobre papel 1979-1999, exh. cat., Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 1999 (illustrated in colour, p. 324).

J-M. del Moral, Barceló, London 2003 (illustrated in colour within the artist studio, p. 20).

Exhibited: Lugano, Museo d'Arte Moderna Lugano, Miquel Barceló, 2006-2007, no. 16 (illustrated, p. 157 and illustrated in colour, p. 39).

Notes: Brimming with details created with a bewildering variety of techniques and styles, Miquel Barceló's Bodegón Chínois avec Buda is a feast for the senses and the imagination. This is an expressionistic and experimental reboot of the traditional Spanish bodegón, the still life composition featuring foodstuffs. Where the pictures of that genre in the Prado and the Louvre often feature meticulously created trompe-l'oeil surfaces, Barceló has reinvented the entire nature of painting in order to incorporate mixed media elements as varied as rice, newspaper, chopsticks and a fan, blurring the boundary between the represented world and the representation itself, making a visceral, tangible work of art that strikes the viewer with its intense physicality, a dimension that is emphasised by its sheer scale. This is a towering work of art, the result of a herculean effort on the part of the artist himself, who has covered each square centimetre of this two- by three-metre canvas with details, some of them pasted by the substance of the paint, some of them incised, some of them painted with brushstrokes or even with other techniques: drips and smudges have been included in Barcelós armoury, forcing our attention to the treatment of the surface.

It was during the course of 1985, when Bodegón Chínois avec Buda was painted, that another bodegón on the same scale and from the same year, Gran Comida Españla, became the first of Barceló's works to be acquired by a public collection - it is now in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. Looking at that picture and at Bodegón Chínois avec Buda it is clear that this is the work of an artist in full control of his skills. This was reflected by the increasing recognition that Barceló was receiving: it was during this year that he was approached by the veteran art dealer Leo Castelli, who wished to represent him in the United States; he was also given a prestigious travelling show of some of his recent paintings, which travelled from the CAPC Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux to the Palacio de Velázquez, Madrid and The Institute Contemporary of Arts, Boston.

During the mid-1980s, when he painted Bodegón Chínois avec Buda Barceló was largely based in Paris. For some time, he had worked in a large Gothic church in the rue dUlm, where he had indulged a new sense of scale; this continued in the pictures such as Bodegón Chínois avec Buda which he created in the studio to which he moved in 1985 on the Avenue de Breteuil. While in Paris, Barceló mainly focussed on two themes: the bodegn and the library. These two subjects allowed him to explore two very different strains of culture: the supposedly elevated realm of high culture such as the artistic and literary canons in which he himself was so immersed, and the culinary world that had itself been a popular subject for millennia. For Barceló, the still life, represented by pictures of soup, of vegetables, of kitchens and of Chinese restaurants, allowed him to experiment with appropriate organic materials while investigating the very substance of life. In Bodegón Chínois avec Buda the importance of food is made all the more explicit by the shrine-like presentation: the figure of the Buddha dominates the composition while some of the chopsticks have been arranged in such a way that they in fact resemble joss sticks, a connection that is perhaps emphasised by the wisps of smoke that curl up the canvas, especially from the tea pot.

The idea of the Chinese restaurant as subject matter had been suggested by a smaller picture, Poireau I of the same year, which had suggested lacquers to Barceló. Looking at Bodegón Chínois avec Buda, it becomes clear that the idea of the lacquer as a part of a rich multiplicity of varied techniques has fuelled this composition. It is the artistic process that has propelled him in his investigation of the huge surface, ranging from gouges incised in the paint surface, to painted paper, to the found materials which have been incorporated. Barceló had long been fascinated by the inclusion of materials, especially organic, in his work. As early as 1976, he had created a work entitled Cadaveria 15 which he showed at the Museu de Mallorca. This comprised 225 glass-topped cases split into groups of fifteen; each of the fifteen was filled with the same materials, including liver, heart and flowers, over a span of fifteen days ending on the eve of the exhibition; these then decomposed at different rates over the duration of the show. Later, Barceló turned this interest in organic material to more focussed effect: only the year before he painted Bodegón Chínois avec Buda, he created an image of an omelette using beaten egg and eggshell amongst his materials. The medium was therefore perfectly in sync with the message; it also allowed him the chance to adapt the tempera techniques of early painters in a humorous manner.

This experimentation with medium and message has been taken to a new level in Bodegón Chínois avec Buda, where the composition includes rice, chop sticks and the fan, allowing Barceló to pull the Chinese scene into existence. At the same time, these artefacts bring about an incredible specificity: the work appears anchored in reality, in a moment that has been incorporated into the surface. In this light, Bodegón Chínois avec Buda recalls the tradition of the still life as an image of the mutability of time, as a memento mori. This is recalled by Barceló's inclusion of smoke within the composition: while recalling the incense of churches, shrines and temples in both the East and the West, the smoke is also an elusive, ephemeral and insubstantial subject. The artist would remain intrigued by the representation of smoke - and, for similar reasons, of water - for some time to come, seeing it as transient and also a contrast with the sheer materiality of his own canvas. It is so intangible, in contrast to the rich surface of the painting, that it throws into question the nature of representation while also revealing a more fleeting aspect. This allows a rich game of contrasts in Bodegón Chínois avec Buda this is a sensual feast, filled with Oriental detail and with substance. In its subject matter, it recalls the still life compositions of Henri Matisse, for instance his Nature morte en rouge de Venise of 1908, now in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow and also known as Statuette et vases sur un tapis oriental. Both works show a clear relish for the arabesques and curlicues of an exotic civilisation, yet where Matisse has shown restraint in his involvement with the paint surface, Barceló has plunged in, orgiastically involving himself in the build-up of the various incrustations that comprise Bodegón Chínois avec Buda.

Christie's. Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction. 14 February 2012. London, King Street www.christies.com