Art dealer Marianne Boesky asked Barnaby Furnas to make a painting that she hoped would be the biggest one in the big fat Armory Show this past weekend in NY. The New Yorker critic Calvin Tomkins went along to watch it being made, and wrote tartly in this week’s edition of the magazine that Furnas, “who is thirty-two, seems to like talking about his work almost as much as he likes making it.”

Here’s a quick followup about the fate of the painting, which ended up being 26-by-11.6 feet and called “Red Sea.”

First of all, the watery-looking red sea painting, as far as I could tell, was definitely a Hummer among sedans parked in the booths at the piers. Apart from pieces painted directly on the entry walls of the show, it won the Big prize.

Standing in front of it, I couldn’t help but overhear Boesky talking about it to a customer who wondered why there weren’t detectable figures (see another Furnas painting below to get an idea of his more typical style) beneath the glowing yellow orb of the sun hanging above the crimson tide.

“Where are the figures?” said the customer.
“They’re in there,” Boesky said. “But they’re drowning.”

I love these types of literal explanations. They are completely absurd.

The painting sold. Fast. Before the show even officially opened, in the preview period on Thursday. Boesky’s assistant, whose dark hair and suit looked smashing against the bloody thing, wouldn’t say for how much.