Henni Alftan’s Library III sold for $76,000 at Phillips 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session on May 16, 2023 in New York City. Alftan’s motto when it comes to her work is “less is more”; the approach is visible both in her tightly cropped scenes and framing. It’s a lesson she’s learned from cinematic imagery—draw your viewer in closer to an intimate scene to stir up the imagination rather than crowd the space and take away from the focus.
Though she describes her paintings as focusing on the mundane moments in life, the detail that goes into creating them isn’t lost on the viewer. In addition to her signature unique fragmented images, according to a March 2023 interview with Ocula, Alftan also mixes her own paint colors, which can’t be recreated once they dry, meaning Alftan must finish the piece she’s working on while her palette is still fresh. To be able to work with such a time constraint, Alftan paints very specific sketches right on to the canvas. She’s also known to take inspiration from her previous works.
Just like Alftan’s paintings, the documents an estate planner drafts are much more nuanced to meet a client’s needs than may meet the eye. In another page from Alftan’s playbook, planners often work off of a template to build on their documents, tailoring it to each client’s specific circumstances.
Some of our other favorites, from Phillips 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session on May 16, 2023 in New York City,
appear throughout the issue.