The Artsy Vanguard 2019: Harold Ancart
Harold Ancart. © Harold Ancart. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner.
Harold Ancart, Untitled, 2017. © Harold Ancart / SABAM, Brussels. Photo by JSP Art Photography. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner.
Harold Ancart has a feverish approach to putting out work. He’s produced enough of his large-scale paintings—of matches, icebergs, and other abstracted forms—to be in 14 shows in 8 years with his New York gallery, the influential Bushwick- and Brussels-based hub Clearing. He got so restless to paint on a road trip across the United States that he built a makeshift studio in his trunk. And since signing on with mega-gallery David Zwirner in 2018, Ancart has made enough work to fill walls at fairs such as Frieze New York and Los Angeles, Art Basel in Hong Kong, ART021 in Shanghai, and FIAC in Paris.
In the spring of 2019, Ancart received his biggest commission yet when the Public Art Fund (PAF) asked him to turn a handball court into a work of art—just one you can lob balls at. “Ancart puts immense passion and dedication into his work,” explained PAF curator Daniel S. Palmer, who spearheaded the project. “There is nothing he’d prefer to be doing more than painting. He’s now receiving opportunities at an even more significant level, allowing him to work even more boldly.”
