Lot 160: NEAL TAIT

NEAL TAIT B. 1965 WOMAN READING HER VISA STATEMENT titled on the overlap oil on linen 45.5 by 35.5cm.; 18 by 14in. Executed in 2006.

White Cube, London, where acquired by the present owner in July 2007

Born in Edinburgh, Neal Tait now lives and works in London. He studied at Chelsea School of Art, received his masters from the Royal College of Art in 1993 and in 2001, he was awarded a residency at the British School at Rome. Tait has exhibited at various international venues with solo exhibitions at galleries such as the White Cube, London, Sies + Höke Galerie, Dusseldorf, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin and Monica da Cardenas, Milan.

Tait's paintings, which hover between abstraction and figuration, possess a disquieting and atmospheric intensity. In the present work, like many of his portraits, the model's eyes are averted and she stands motionless, in a dream-like trance, oblivious to the world around her.