Oli Johannsson (1945-2011).
You Can't Come In.
2009. Signed, titled and dated on verso.
Acrylic on canvas.
Excellent condition.
Image is 37" x 37".
Archival museum frame is 42"w x 43".
This piece is from a single owner collection and comes with a copy of the COA from Opera Gallery in NY (signed, stamped and purchase price of $21,000).
Est. $20,000-40,000.
Buyer is responsible for shipping.

Oli Johannsson was a self-taught Icelandic artist discovered late in life who quickly rose to international prominence before his death. Acquired from the final exhibition before his passing, this important painting by Johannsson, one of the last he ever produced, is a significant departure from the highly-saturated abstractions which first brought him curatorial and international acclaim.“You Can't Come In"; is a masterwork for both the front and the back of the canvas. Though the work is signed, titled, and dated on verso, the viewer can easily discern from recto an underpainting produced and abandoned by the artist in favor of the more intimate and seemingly autobiographical subject matter that now occupies its recto.The underpainting was clearly set to be another from his series of brightly hued geometric abstractions, while the current painting favors a more subdued palate, depicting a bucolic landscape with a home, figures, and farm animals in what was likely a snapshot of Oli's life in rural Iceland. This beguiling departure into figuration from his longstanding oeuvre may reveal something like the too-common trope of an artist becoming more vulnerable as he grapples with his mortality. And yet, an interpretation of the artist's intentions of being open to deconstruction or available to a straightforward reading is thwarted by the artist with its caustic, mischievous title: "You Can't Come In." The majority of Johannsson's output currently resides in important private and celebrity collections worldwide, as well as Icelandic institutions.