Lot 71
**Originally Listed At $500**
Toby Ivey (American, 1944-2007). Three Animal Theme Compositions. Mixed media: paint, pencil, crayon, marker, and ink on posterboard and calendar paper, 2001 to 2002. Two signed and dated at lower right. One signed and dated at lower left. Teeming with animated creatures and saturated color, these three mixed media compositions by outsider artist Toby Ivey conjure a surreal menagerie from simple means. Painted in 2001 and 2002, they reflect Ivey's distinctive vision - playful yet unnerving, direct yet dreamlike - rendered on humble found supports like commercial poster board and a calendar page. The top composition, executed on the reverse of a printed calendar sheet, depicts five elephants and three black dogs against a field of scratchy green. The elephants, painted in soft whites and grays with single staring eyes, are staggered across the composition like figures from a dream. Size of largest (zoomorphs): 24.25" W x 18.5" H (61.6 cm x 47 cm)
Two larger, darker elephants dominate the center, their bodies overlapped and ringed by small black canines rendered in stark contrast.
The middle panel, on deep lavender poster board, presents four equestrians atop ochre and cinnamon horses. The riders, uniform in appearance with dark hair and pale faces, extend their arms and sit in rigid poses. Each horse is shown in profile, its legs stylized and stubby, giving the scene a rhythmic, carousel-like motion. The background is unmodulated, leaving the figures to float in an indeterminate space tinged with theatrical calm.
The bottom work bursts with frenetic energy - twelve hybrid animals crowd a lime green ground, their bodies overlapping and jostling for space. Two elephants, two cats, three snakes, six birds, and two aardvark-like beasts appear side by side in a loosely stacked arrangement. One aardvark, at lower left, is pierced by a bold stroke of hot pink between its legs - a moment of strange intensity in an otherwise whimsical crowd. This panel is painted on poster board with a gilt reverse, underscoring Ivey's use of vibrant, often discarded materials as sites for creation.
Together, the three works offer a compelling glimpse into Ivey's visual vocabulary: a menagerie of creatures seen through the lens of memory, imagination, and symbolic form. Their crude outlines and flattened color fields belie a sensitive hand attuned to rhythm, pattern, and personality. Each figure - whether elephant, horse, or hybrid - stares back at the viewer with a fixed gaze, part totem, part cartoon, part coded message.
Provenance: private Rochester, Minnesota, USA collection, acquired from 1990 -1998
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#192645
- Condition: Some bending to corners and slight wrinkling to calendar page, but, otherwise, all three are in excellent overall condition. Two signed and dated at lower right.
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| From: | To: | Increments: |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $299 | $25 |
| $300 | $999 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $1,999 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $4,999 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $9,999 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $19,999 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $49,999 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $99,999 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $199,999 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 + | $20,000 |