Abstract no.15 by Lis Lauendorf: Which Way Is Up

Abstract no.15 by Lis Lauendorf is a one of a kind original oil painting, 55 by 57 centimetres, in blue, red, orange and black on an almost white canvas. Nothing in it tells you which way up it hangs. Nothing, that is, except the paint.

Abstract no.15 by Lis Lauendorf is an original abstract oil painting, created by hand from scratch and measuring 55 by 57 centimetres, the smallest of her ten originals at NOKUKO. It is a unique work with no prints and no editions, exclusive to NOKUKO and sold with a certificate of authenticity. Shipping is arranged directly with NOKUKO.

The Drips Decide Which Way Is Up

Abstract no.15 has no figure, horizon or object to tell you how it should hang, so the paint does it instead. Every drip on the canvas runs towards the same edge.

They are easy to find once you start looking. Under two black marks in the upper left, a row of thin black drips runs straight down through the blue. Near the top of the canvas a small black knot sends a single fine line down past the middle, between the blue and the red. On the right, another black line ends in a round bead of paint, the way a drop gathers before it falls. Low on the left, a few strokes of red run down and finish in heavy drops.

The brushwork around them goes every way at once: blue in short, curving strokes, red pulled in long diagonals, faint pale arcs sweeping round the edges. The drips are the only marks that agree. At some point while the paint was still wet, the canvas stood the way it stands in the photograph, and the drips kept a record of it.

That matters on a wall. At 55 by 57 centimetres the canvas is close enough to square that its shape gives no hint, and an abstract painting could in principle hang four ways. This one has an up and a down already written into it. Turned over, every drip would run towards the ceiling.

Brushed, Dragged, Dropped and Flicked

Abstract no.15 is built from at least four different kinds of mark, and each one still shows how it reached the canvas.

The blue is brushed. It is laid in broad, short strokes with rounded ends, stacked over one another across the lower left like overlapping scales. The black bar above them is dragged: a single heavy stroke with the tracks of the bristles running along its length. The drips are dropped, left to run where the paint was too wet to stay put. And across the top of the canvas, small black and blue flecks sit on their own with no stroke around them, the kind of mark paint leaves when it is flicked from a brush rather than laid with it.

The red works differently again. It comes in long diagonal swipes down the right side, thick enough at their ends to have run. The orange sits in flatter blocks: one near the top left, one at the centre, one low on the right.

Nothing has been tidied up afterwards. Seen close, the painting reads as a hand changing its mind about how to put paint down, several times over, on one small canvas.

The Smallest Lauendorf Original at NOKUKO

At 55 by 57 centimetres, Abstract no.15 is the smallest of the ten Lis Lauendorf originals NOKUKO holds. The other nine run from 74 by 78 centimetres up to 104 by 104.

It is a unique work, not a print. There is one canvas, it is exclusive to NOKUKO, and it comes with a certificate of authenticity. Because it is an original, shipping is not a standard rate: the best option and price are agreed directly between you and NOKUKO, and questions about the painting can go to hello@nokuko.com before you decide.

The most recent Lauendorf on this journal, Abstract no.7 by Lis Lauendorf, builds its paint up in thick ridges that stand off the canvas. Abstract no.15 is the looser of the two. Much of its paint was let fall rather than laid, and it shows.

Most abstract paintings leave every decision about hanging to you. Abstract no.15 has quietly made one of them already, in black and red running down the canvas.

The rest is open: the room, the wall, the light, and what you make of all that blue.

About Abstract no.15 by Lis Lauendorf

What medium is Abstract no.15 painted in?
Abstract no.15 is an original oil painting on canvas by Lis Lauendorf, created by hand from scratch. Blue, red, orange and black are laid over an almost white surface, with drips and small flecks of paint across it.

What size is Abstract no.15?
The painting measures 55 by 57 centimetres, approximately 21.7 by 22.4 inches. It is a single, almost square canvas and the smallest Lis Lauendorf original at NOKUKO.

Is Abstract no.15 available as a print or in other editions?
No. It is a unique original, so there are no prints, no editions and no other sizes. Only the one original painting is sold.

What makes Abstract no.15 exclusive, and how is it shipped?
It is a one of a kind original, exclusive to NOKUKO, and it comes with a certificate of authenticity. Because it is an original canvas, the best shipping option and price are agreed directly between the purchaser and NOKUKO.