One Laughing at the Red Ball
2000
A solitary figure, cast in polyester resin, sits in a leather chair and appears to be laughing or reacting with animated delight toward a vibrant red ball. The work captures a strange, unsettling intimacy between the human form and the simple object, blurring the line between playfulness and unease. Muñoz's signature use of lifelike yet artificial figures heightens the psychological tension, inviting viewers to question the nature of the figure's response and their own role as observers.
- Medium
- Polyester resin, steel and leather chair, ball painted with red oil paint
- Spotted At
- Auction House · Phillips
🔨 Auction Lot
20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale
June 26, 2018
More by Juan Muñoz
Albuquerque Balcony
1993
Three Figure Balcony
1990
The fgurative sculptures of Spanish artist Juan Muñoz, who is a self-acknowledged storyteller, combine a personal exploration of human experience with a theatricality, synthesizing an emotional calm with the cerebral. Size plays a key conceptual role in all of Muñoz’s sculptures, as the slightly smaller than life-size fgures isolate themselves from the spectator, creating a sense of exclusion from the viewer. However, the present lot carries with it a unique sense of vertical scale, featuring one fgure on the shoulders of another.
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