Celeste Rapone

NIGHT PAINTING

2024
oil on canvas
96 x 78 inches

Celeste Rapone is known for narrative paintings that blur the boundaries between figuration and abstraction. At the core of Rapone’s practice are formalist concerns such as surface, pattern, and color that shape the artist’s inventive figures and scenes. The protagonists of these paintings—often female—are shown in varying moments of repose and activity, their bodies unapologetically spilling towards the edges of the canvas. Emphasizing the act of observation in her work, Rapone layers autobiographical and art historical sources that transcend appropriation.

Rapone’s work has been included in recent institutional exhibitions at Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Her work is included in the permanent collection of The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; ICA, Boston; M Woods, Beijing; The START Museum, Shanghai; and The Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao. Rapone was the 2018 recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.

estimated retail value: $85,000

The TWO x TWO AUCTION will take place at The Rachofsky House on Saturday, October 19, 2024. Absentee bids must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 18, 2024. If you are unable to attend TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art on Saturday, October 19, and would like to place a bid on a live or silent auction lot, you may complete the appropriate absentee bidding fields below. A TWO x TWO auction representative can bid on your behalf up to your pre-set maximum bid. If the work is part of the live auction, you may also be on the phone with an auction representative to place your bids during the live auction.

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