Donald Sultan (USA, born 1951) is a distinguished painter, sculptor, and printmaker, who rose to prominence in the late 1970s as part of the New Yorker “New Image” movement. He has a unique artistic method and innovative approach to traditional subject matter. Known as Abstract Representation, Donald Sultan´s art is characterized by the use of geometric black forms set against organic areas of bright color, thus bringing an abstract sensibility to his iconographic images of still life. Throughout his career he has revisited and reinvented still life, using images of lemons, poppies, playing cards, fruits, flowers, and other objects. Donald Sultan’s Lemons, a recurrent theme in his artworks, has, in fact, become an iconic image all over the world. Sultan is considered to be at the forefront of contemporary art. Although his paintings are often classified as landscapes and still life, Sultan states that they are first and foremost abstracts. Besides paintings, drawings, and sculptures, he has created many editions. Donald Sultan’s prints are unique: he uses specific materials like “flocking’s” to create expressive and powerful prints that are reminiscent of his forceful paintings. Since his first solo exhibition in 1977, Sultan’s artistic career has progressed rapidly; his works are part of the most prominent public and private collections to be found across the globe.

Donald Sultan

Donald Sultan’s large-scale still-life paintings feature semi-abstract compositions and unique materials: The artist has used tar, spackle, enamel, Masonite, and vinyl floor tiles to create his minimalist renderings of flowers, fruits, and other natural forms.

Eight Whites, Oct 30, 2008 belongs to Sultan’s famous "Flower" series. The American artist is renowned for his retrieval of the still life tradition, where the image is deconstructed to its basic elements, resulting in works that remain both abstract and representational.

This piece is a color silkscreen; with enamel inks and tar-like texture on 4-ply museum board, which represents Sultan's iconic poppies in white, rendered against a black background. The image reveals one of the key features of the artist´s work - the material juxtaposition - the contrast of a weighty background with ethereal shapes of the flowers.

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“ The images... are really about the architecture in the paintings; they seem so massive and strong and permanent but nothing is permanent. „

—Donald Sultan