Imagine a white canoe quietly stopping in the center of the lake and it shines under the moonlight and is surrounded by the woods. It feels like you are in a dream, and you feel a little bit uneasy. This painting was Scottish artist Peter Doig's “White Canoe” (1990). In 2007, it has sold for $11.28 million (about NT$ 370 million) at Sotheby’s London. The painting was even more than seven times the estimated price, it not only set a record for the artist’s work at the time, but also was the highest auction price for artists living in Europe at that time. The canoe became a representative icon of the artist's works. His inspiration came from the classic horror movie "Friday the 13th". When the movie was near the end, a woman crouched on the canoe alone, waiting for help. This scene deeply rooted in Doig's mind.
Doig seems to have magic power that attracts viewers to enter his works. The subjects of his creation are almost architectural landscapes that lie between memory and imagination. His works seem to exist only in the memory, with the slight light effects. Doig was inspired by photos, movie plots, or the memory of the childhood's constant moving in various cities. For example, “The Architect's Home in the Ravine” (1991), which a building was densely covered with white lines, and it is impossible to see the original appearances of the building. However, these lines do not exist in the real world. People just can't tell the differences between reality and fiction, and this style of creation makes Doig is seen as one of modern magical realism artists.
The term "Magic Realism" first appeared in the book of the German art critic Franz Roh in 1925 to describe the artist's work of depicting daily themes in a mystical and imaginative way. To observing daily lives from an objective perspective and explore the strangeness and incoherence of real existence, magic realism artists will explore society and culture with a cautious attitude, and pay attention to the sense of alienation and isolation in modern lives.
After Doig began to gain notice with a series of startlingly original landscape, his works become very popular in the art market. The reputation of fame has inevitably lead to embarrassed incidents. He was accused of disavowing a painting that he had painted as a teen. Robert Fletcher, the owner of a dream-like desert landscape painting, said that in 1976, he purchased the work for $100 from Peter Doig while he worked at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre in Ontario. Doig strongly denies and finds evidence through the lawyers' team, stating that the real painter was Peter Edward Doige who had passed away in 2012. Peter Edward Doige had indeed been in prison at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre and also had the ability to paint. Finally, Peter Doig won the case in 2016.
Recently, Doig's works have continued to make brilliant breakthroughs in the art market. For example, his "Swamped" (1990) has sold for about $ 26 million (about NT$ 780 million) at Christie New York in 2015, setting a record for the artist at the time. His “Rosedale” (1991) has sold for $29 million (about NT$ 860 million) at Phillips in 2017, once again setting a new record for the artist and a record for living British artists. Now he ranks the top 10 most expensive living artists.
Doig's works are now collected in major international institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art in Los Angeles, Tate Modern, Paris Museum of Modern Art, and Dallas Museum of Art. He was awarded the Whitechapel Artist Prize in 1991, nominated for the Turner Prize in 1994, and awarded the Wolfgang Hahn Prize in Germany in 2008.
Figure 1: Peter Doig, Spearfishing, 2013. Oil on linen. 288 x 200 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Michael Werner Gallery, London and New York
Figure 2 top left: Peter Doig, Swamped, 1990 © Bridgeman Images © Peter Doig. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2018
Figure 2 top right: Peter Doig, Trinidad 2011. Photo © Anton Corbijn
Figure 2 bottom left: Peter Doig, The Architect's Home in The Ravine,1991 © Peter Doig
Figure 2 bottom right: Peter Edward Doige, desert landscape. Courtesy of ARIS Title @ARIS_ArgoGroup via Twitter.jpg
