DAMIEN HIRST, untitled, 2012 [tea towel]

DAMIEN HIRST, untitled, 2012
print on tea towel
published by Other Criteria, London, UK

Damien Hirst is entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists, who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. No matter how many spot paintings there are on whatever, there will always be more words spilled over them. Always structured on the grid the works on canvas look as if they were generated by machine. Here, indeed, dots are printed on a tea towel.

Other Criteria was founded as a publishing company in 2005 by Damien Hirst, Hugh Allan and Frank Dunphy, with creative directorship from Jason Beard and based in Marylebone, London, UK.

 

History of prices:
Artspace, New York, USA October 2023 € 287,-
eBay-positive_star_japan, October 2023 US$ 174.-
Other Criteria, London, England September 2012 € 18,-

JASPER JOHNS, Red Yellow Blue, 2012 [beach towel]

JASPER JOHNS, Red Yellow Blue, 2012
178 x 153 cm / 60 x 70 inches
beach towel
published by Art Production Fund: Works On Whatever, New York, USA

Jasper Johns’s sense of the distinction between saying and showing produced a memorable declaration: ‘When you begin to work with the idea of suggesting, say, a particular psychological state of affairs, you have eliminated so much from the process of painting that you make an artificial statement which is, I think, not desirable. I think one has to work with everything and accept the kind of statement which results as unavoidable, or as a helpless situation. I think that most art which begins to make a statement fails to make a statement because the methods used are too schematic or too artificial. I think that one wants from painting a sense of life. The final suggestion, the final statement, has to be not a deliberate statement but a helpless statement.’

History of price:
Art Production Fund: Works On Whatever, New York, USA $ 95.- September 2012 (year of issue)

BARBARA KRUGER, Call Me, 2012

BARBARA KRUGER, Call me, 2012
178 x 153 cm / 60 x 70 inches
beach towel, original wrapping, tag
pristine condition
published by Art Production Fund: Works On Whatever, New York, USA
p.o.r.

Much of Barbara Kruger’s work engages the merging of found photographs from existing sources with pithy and aggressive text that involves the viewer in the struggle for power and control that her captions speak to. She develops her ideas on a computer, later transferring the results to oftentimes billboard-sized images.

History of prices:
Wright Auction, Chicago, USA 12 August 2021 € 596,- (hammer price)
Wright Auction, Chicago, USA 18 November 2020 € 1.203,-
Arthema Auction, Lille, France 26 September 2015 € 290,- (hammer price)
Art Production Fund: Works On Whatever, New York, USA September 2012 (year of issue) USA US$ 95.-

YOKO ONO, Imagine Peace, 2012 [beach towel]

YOKO ONO, Imagine Peace, 2012
178 x 153 cm / 60 x 70 inches
beach towel
published by Art Production Fund: Works On Whatever, New York, USA

Imagine Piece is Yoko Ono’s worldwide initiative of anti-violence. This ongoing project uses internet projects, posters, thoughts, badges and a multitude of other medias to communicate its message of peace to the global community. Here she used a beach towel. The record ‘Imagine’ conveyed John Lennon’s wish for world peace and harmony in simple terms, both musically and lyrically. It fact it was inspired by ‘Cloud Piece’, an instructional poem dated Spring 1963 that appeared in Yoko Ono’s book Grapefruit:
Imagine the clouds dripping.
Dig a hole in your garden to
put them in.

History of price:
Art Production Fund: Works On Whatever, New York, USA € 75,- / US$ 95.- September 2012

JOHN BALDESSARI, Wrong [1966-1968], 2012 [LACMA print]

JOHN BALDESSARI, Wrong [1966-1968], 2012 
71 x 56 cm / 28 x 22 inches
digital print on archival paper
edition unknown
published by LACMA, Los Angeles, USA
mint
rare
€ 340,- plus € 32,- Track & Trace EU registered mail
inv.JBal 000-pr

 

John Baldessari made this print as a painting between 1966 and 1968. He was intentionally questioning the conventions of photographic picture-making, among other things. He created this work after looking at an art instruction book about how to properly compose images. Baldessari had himself photographed in front of a palm tree. He comments: The person that did the book had sketches of the scene, of let’s say a landscape, but there would be two. And one would be right, according to him, and one would be wrong. And I loved the idea that somebody would just say that this is right and this is wrong. So I decided I would have a painting that was wrong, a work of art that was wrong, which seemed right to me.

Baldessari is interested in communicating his concept more than he is in creating something precious or unique. After he decided that his own handwriting was too personal and not distant enough he hired a professional sign painter to letter the word “wrong” you see on the original painting. This poster being just a mere reproduction may ‘as communicating his concept’ therefore be undeniably seen as a work of art, though unsigned.

John Baldessari says about his work: I’m very interested in both language and imagery; I don’t really know why, but I find word and image equally important. He is known for works that blend photographic materials such as film stills and applied discs in colour. He takes them out of their original context and rearranges their form, often outlining their shapes including the addition of words or short sentences.

This print is sold out at LACMA, Los Angeles, USA.

History of prices:
eBay-dynas-46, Secaucus, New Jersey, USA September 2023 US$ 450
eBay-hypegallery, Houston, USA August 2022 US$ 399

Upon Paper, No. 2, 2012

UPON PAPER No. 2: Los Angeles, 2012
68,6 x 50,8 cm / 20 x 27 inches 
SC, 80 pp., paper box
published by Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, Germany
€ 85,- plus € 24,- Track & Trace registered mail

Published bi-annually, and housed in a paper box Upon Paper is a large-format periodical offering a platform for works on paper. Each issue is devoted to a single theme. The theme for this inaugural issue is ‘Color’ and comes with contributions of Peter Saville, Nick Knight, Francis Bacon, Erwin Frotin, Walter Pfeiffer and Bob Dylan.

Upon Paper, No. 1, 2012

UPON PAPER No. 1: Los Angeles, 2012
68,6 x 50,8 cm / 20 x 27 inches 
SC, 80 pp., paper box
published by Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, Germany
€ 85,- plus € 24,- Track & Trace registered mail

Published bi-annually, and housed in a paper box Upon Paper is a large-format periodical offering a platform for works on paper. Each issue is devoted to a single theme. The theme for this inaugural issue is Los Angeles.