Lot 144: Dr. Lakra (Mexican, born 1972) Untitled (Fiestas)

Untitled (Fiestas) 2006

signed
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and Iris print on cotton paper
130 by 100 cm.
51 5/16 by 39 3/8 in.
This work was executed in 2006.

PROVENANCE
Kurimanzutto Gallery, New Mexico
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2007

"A tattoo can be a lot of things, but I always knew that it could be seen or used as an art form. It does not need any translation."
The artist in the Boston Phoenix, April 2010

A world renowned tattoo artist based near Mexico City, Dr Lakra (real name Jerónimo López Ramírez) has more recently gained a reputation as a fine artist, transferring his highly skilled draughtsmanship to works on paper, fabric and found objects. Customising images pulled from 1950's Mexican magazines, his work fuses their old-world glamour with a distinctly contemporary sense of the grotesque. Reminiscent of the fairground or the freak-show, the shapely pin-up girls and macho wrestlers of the original photographs are transformed by Dr Lakra's delicate yet diabolical additions, the results displaying a chilling but strangely attractive fascination. His work is held in the MoMA, New York, and the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, and has also been exhibited at Tate Modern and in numerous solo shows across Europe, Japan and the United States.