Red and Black Poppies

Sultan’s signature style features simplified representations of everyday objects (flowers, buttons, etc.), typically depicted in stark colors and removed from their backgrounds. In keeping with this aesthetic, Sultan’s poppy imagery was initially inspired by his own garden, but also harkens back to World War I and the famous Flanders Field (where red poppies allegedly grew on the soldiers’ graves). According to Sultan, the imagery refers more to paper poppies sold on Veteran’s Day than the actual poppies themselves. “I use a technique similar to lacquering furniture and polishing cars,” explains Sultan of the high gloss finish of the red poppies in his paintings. “It’s enamel paint and I polish it down until it gets shiny.” (Interview with Annette Hinkle, Sag Harbor Express, June 29, 2012.)

Sultan’s series of poppies sculptures includes two subsets: monochromatic flowers, and multicolored flowers. Until 2015, all series were single-color poppies (red, yellow, black, etc.). The 2015 single-color sculptures measures 24” (h) x 21” (w) x 3.5” (d). Each single-color edition was created in an edition of 24 plus proofs.

In 2018, Sultan produced a special edition of Poppy sculptures.  Like the 2015 sculptures, these sculptures feature three flowers, but the 2018 editions were produced in two colorways: 1) black and red and 2) red and yellow.  The multicolored poppies are about the same size as the monochromatic poppies; of note, however, they were created in editions of only 12 plus proofs. (That is, absent proofs, only 12 black/red and only 12 yellow/red were created.)