FAVORITES:

HENRY LITTLE

UK-based art advisor Henry Little talks about his favorite works from the November selection on Platform.

In his own words

A glorified truffle pig (art advisor at The Fine Art Group), I spend each day looking for art to acquire on behalf of clients. My wife and I also collect, mainly paintings, works on paper, editions and photographs, with some hundred works now cluttering up our home. I write when I can, occasionally for Phaidon publications including Vitamin P3Great Women Artists and Vitamin T, but most recently the catalogue essay for David Hockney's Circa project on Piccadilly Square. Like other advisors I'm guilty of spending too much time on Instagram (@henry.little.london).

Tom Anholt, Berlin Flower II
Oil on linen, 15.8 × 11.8 inches. $9000.

A contemporary take on a classic genre. Tom's painting has plenty of gutsy, painterly mark making mixed with wonderfully elegant techniques, such as the deft use of white paint to provide the illusionistic quality to the vase. I also love the rich yellows which wrap around the right-hand edge of the canvas. There's beauty in the detail too, especially the spray of orange paint smattering the vase and stems.

Erin O'Keefe, Arabesque
Archival pigment print, 16.0 × 12.0 inches. $4650

Erin's photograph is a rapturous work of pictorial deceit, with painted objects artfully arranged in the studio. Photography's mechanical reproduction is the direct foil to painting's defining characteristic, the aura of the unique authorial mark; Erin's image coyly resists our attempts to unpick its photographic seams while luring us in.

Ryan Travis Christian, Bouncing Ball
Graphite on paper, 7.5 × 10.0 inches. $3300

I'm a total sucker for Ryan's work. Early days cartoon imagery and a comedy dog, an easy sell. I love the soft velvety handling of form and contour achieved with his virtuoso use of graphite, while the pseudo-scientific mapping of the ball's flight in the dog's eyes is such an apt way of describing canine ball fixation. A perfect combination of cliche, cartoon influence and joy.

Graham Anderson, Untitled
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 26.0 × 19.0 inches. $6000

A new discovery to me and a neat reminder of the purpose of Platform. Graham's painting combines super-flat abstraction with pointillist illusionism. The oranges and accompanying leaf demonstrate his clear fluency with the medium, while also evoking the juicy texture of ripe oranges. An intensely satisfying visual experience.