IMPORTANT IRISH ART · 27 MAY 2024 AT 6PM

108 76 Genieve Figgis (b.1972) LADY AND HER DOG oil on panel 23 by 16.75in. (58.4 by 42.5cm) Frame Size: 32 by 25.75in. (81.3 by 65.4cm) Provenance: NCAD Graduate Exhibition, 2012; Private collection Exhibited: ‘2012 Degree and Postgraduate Exhibition’, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, 9-17 June 2012 Lady and her Dog, 2012 is an early example by Genieve Figgis and was exhibited at her Masters Graduate Show at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin in the summer of 2012. Portraits would continue to inspire the artist after graduation, with a solo show - Fictitious Possibilities - held the following year at the Talbot Gallery, Dublin. It comprised portrait paintings of religious and historical art icons including a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, Lemon Queen (sold through Whyte’s, 2 October 2023, lot 66). 2013 was a fairytale year for Figgis, whose career skyrocketed when her work - via Twitter, now X - came to the attention of American painter and photographer Richard Prince (b.1949). He acquired some of her work and subsequently introduced her to the New York art world. Since this auspicious connection Figgis has had a solo exhibition annually (bar 2022) mostly with her agent Almine Rech in their galleries in London, Brussels, Paris, New York and Shanghai. She has also been included in significant group exhibitions internationally, including the large scale international show ‘Desire: A Revision, from the 20th Century to the Digital Age’, IMMA (2020) which included work by Dorothy Cross, Marcel Duchamp, Tracey Emin, Max Ernst, James Joyce, Yayoi Kusama, René Magritte among many others. Lady and her Dog is typical of Figgis’ work and while we cannot be sure whether this is a reinvention of a historical portrait or a character of her own creation, the feeling the painting generates chimes with her current work which is simultaneously whimsical and dark. Here a blonde bobbed woman sits upright holding a small dog. She is regally dressed with fabric draped over her left shoulder. She wears gold earrings and is set against a dark, opulent backdrop; a gilt-edged chandelier, picture and architectural beading. But there are unsettling elements at play. Her makeup has been hastily daubed across her face and her eyes squint and shift to the right. Her thin hand with its melting fingers nestle under the animal’s chin, bar a single digit which lies perilously close to its wide black eye. The dog engages the viewer like a deer caught in the headlights, suggesting he has been caught off guard, his paw pressing into her gown with claws out for added traction. Figgis’ gift is that she can create these unsettling couplings and unnatural looking characters teetering between realities without any of it feeling contrived. In the 12 years since this work was painted the artist has grabbed with both hands her new reality and engineered an enviable career for herself, while staying faithful to the dark comedy evident in this early work. Adelle Hughes, April 2024 €30,000-€40,000 (£25,640-£34,190 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot76