Photo K. van Gelder
CARSTEN HÖLLER, Zukunft ist wichtiger als Freizeit., 1989
each 5,4 x 4,9 x 0,6 cm
28 match books, with vintage cardboard box (5,5 x 20,5 x 11,5 cm)
edition 5000
published by the artist
mint condition, although discoloured box with some small tears
€ 720,- plus € 15,- Track & Trace EU registered mail
inv.CHoe 1179
Carsten Höller was flabbergasted by Helmut Kohl’s speech at the Deutschen Ingenieurtag on 26th of May 1987 given in Munich, Germany: “…Wer über die Zukunft unserer Gesellschaft mitentscheiden will, tut gut daran, dies nicht nur in der unbeständigen Aufgeregtheit des Zeitgeistes zu tun, sondern mit Nachdenklichkeit und Besonnenheit.”
“…Einer Gesellschaft, in der für viele die Freizeit immer mehr zum wichtigsten Wert wird, ist schwer verständlich zu machen, dass Zukunft wichtiger ist als Freizeit und dass Zukunft ohne Anstrengungen nicht gesichert werden kann.”
The idea that a future with efforts or even hard labour, i.e. ‘Anstrengungen’, is more important than leasure time made the artist decide to appropriate the slogan of German politician Helmut Kohl.
Originally presented in an aluminum bowl (diameter 20 cm).
WALTER DAHN, label with signature, 1989
19,8 x 9,6 cm
signed and numbered label issued for being sewn under woolen carpet “Crowns”
edition 6
produced by Equator Production, Brussels, Belgium
Private collection, Amsterdam
Margin Scheme
This label with signature (1989) was signed and numbered for being sewn under woolen carpet “Crowns” (200 x 300 cm) that was issued in an edition of 6. Each carpet was made on a command-selling base. It is unknown whether all copies have been produced.
In a group exhibition called They See The Light at Galerie van Gelder (11 – 27 August 1991), another hand knotted carpet ‘Two Crowns’ (200 x 200 cm) of Walter Dahn was shown, together with carpets by Milan Kunc, Rosemarie Trockel, Peter Nagy, Rob Scholte, Joseph Kosuth, Donald Baechler, Mark Dagley, Guillaume Bijl and Jiri Georg Dokoupil.
RICHARD PRINCE, Skull Bunny shopping bag, 1991
50 x 28 x 8 cm
offset on stiff paper bag
signed, dated
edition 29
published during Art Basel 1991 by Printed Matter, New York, USA and Art Metropole, Toronto, Canada
extremely rare
mint condition
p.o.r.
HRAFNHILDUR ARNARDÓTTIR, Shoplifter, 2019
ca 65 x 35 x 3 cm
print on fabric, tag with name, title and year
published by Kiasma / Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
mint
available at Kiasma’s www.museoshop.fi
JONATHAN MONK, Measurements, 2021
14,8 x 10,5 cm
offset, felt pen ink, postcard with hand written text
signed, numbered
edition 20
published by NAK / Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany
inv.JMon 1110_1113
In 1969 Mel Bochner became renown for his “Measurement rooms” for which architectural features of a room were measured and marked out directly onto the walls. Jonathan Monk is known for reproducing art works taken from art history, i.e. (re)making the same work, but in a different way. For “Measurements” (2021) Monk has marked in green printed lines the height and width of a postcard depicting the view of a “Measurement Room”. On the backside of the card he wrote with the help of a ruler, as a straight line support: ‘Written with a ruler for …’ giving this work a hand made touch. KvG
ALISON KNOWLES, Bread and Water, 1992
ca 20 x 14 x 2 cm
woolen glove, paint, ink stamped and PVC plasticised label, rope
signed with initials, dated
This apparently used glove has an industrial plastic coating. The text on the attached label reads: ‘Scratch plastic surface of glove to the ear’. When this is done the hardened paint makes indeed some kind of a rustling noise. Although it is known that Alison Knowles noticed that the cracks in homemade bread had a resemblance to rivers, it is unknown to what extend this woolen glove with ink stamped title refers to bread and water, and so to rivers.
It is not clear whether this object with machine typed text is an edition.
‘Alison Knowles is neither a composer nor a performer in any traditional terms, yet much of her work is obviously some sort of music. When pressed to categorize herself, she told me she conceives most of her works simply as events. Yet even this catchall term does not include her sculpture and prints, or her books and poems. But while she works in many media or intermedia, everything she does comes out of the same basic impulses: a concern for communication between human beings, an appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of ordinary objects, a deep respect for John Cage, and a profound understanding of what “communicating” is really about.’ Tom Johnson in Musical America, 1975.
JONATHAN MEESE, ‘Stirnband ‘Bruzzzelee’, Shing Shang Scheu, 2009
27 x 14 x 20 cm
styrofoam, fabric, paint, acetate
edition 120 + 20 AP, here nr 64/120
signed, numbered
pristine condition
published by Texte zur Kunst, Berlin, Germany
€ 3.600,- plus € 32,- Track & Trace registered mail
History of prices:
eBay-galerie-m1, Edenkoben, Germany € 4.000,- 5 September 2021
eBay-sehfahrt, € 5.400 – € 7.560 8 August 2021
Galerie m2, Ebenkoben, Germany € 3.500,- August 2013
eBay, € 658,- April 2010
SALIM BAYRI, Sad Ali, 2021
12 x 10 x 8 cm
3D print of bamboo dust and glue
edition 6
signed, dated, numbered
WJM KOK, I (Monochrome with Assistant), 2020 [purple]
70 x 70 cm
6 parts with variable sizes
industrial died fabrics, envelope with sticker
manual with serial number 86262
comes with hand made wooden crate
€ 3.400,- plus courier costs
inv.WJM 840-WJM 1092
KRISTJAN GUDMUNDSSON, Ef/If, 1974
21 x 21 cm
SC, 4 pp., hand bound; screen print on various kinds of paper, glued, linen spine
edition 200, here 1/200
signed, numbered
only 3-5 copies have been produced
published by Silver Press, Amsterdam / Reykjavík
condition: aged, with light bend in cover, minor foxing
extremely rare
€ 3.600,- plus Track & Trace registered mail
inv.KG 1048-pr
In the seventies Kristján Gudmundsson lived with his family in a large appartement in the Daniel Stalpaertstraat in Amsterdam. He produced more than a few books and “Ef/If” was one of his hand made artist’s books published by Silver Press, founded and owned by himself in Reykjavík, Iceland.
The complete book is in screen print, also the printed text on tracing paper that introduces the concept of the book:
Ef staer∂ þessarar si∂u táknar ibúafjölda jar∂arinnar, þá tákna hringarnir ibúi Kina, Tanzaníu of Íslands.
If the size of this page represents the number of people in the world, then the circles represent the people of China, Tanzania and Iceland.
The works of Kristjan Gudmundsson invite to contemplate on his method of working related to what his art encompasses. Usually texts on his works contain either personal memories or chronological summery. In fact, in many works he attempts time by time again to capture factual data into hand sized works, like here in this thin booklet that contains the amount of inhabitants of China, Tanzania and Iceland. In the middle of the last page a tiny bright white screen printed (sic) dot of 1 mm diameter may be detected, when exposed to strong daylight.
Right from the start the production of the book caused problems. In order to keep the costs low the text was prepared for the printer through adhesive letters, hence the dancing letters on the title page. The running direction of paper was not taken into account which caused waving binding. The very thin tracing paper of the first page stuck to the screen when printed. And the most problematic part of the book was the white circular dot of less than 1 millimeter on the last page; with a magnifying glass the print had to be checked every time, and more than quite often no dot at all could be detected; again a misprint. Not being well provided with capital Kristjan Gudmundsson soon stopped the production.
A very fragile and extremely difficult book to find; in Kristján Gudmundsson’s catalogues and monographs this book is always overlooked. Therefore, by now it may be considered almost as a unique work of art. KvG
