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
ELVIRE BONDUELLE, Pour faire joli, 2011
pin, 3 parts, en laiton plaqué or ou argent massif, edition unknown
Elvire Bonduelle, Paris, France € 95,- September 2012
ROBERT BARRY, Art Lovers, 2006 27,6 cm x 27,6 cm
papers, 72 pages, in laminated box
numbered
edition 270 + 30 AP
published by Michèle Didier, Brussels, Belgium
not available
Art Lovers is an unbound book with plates superimposing two layers: a photographic portrait and a word outline cut into a black surface. Each portrait is covered by this black plane, turning the opening made by the word into letter shaped keyholes. The viewer can barely see the portraits and has to infer their subjects from a few sparse and vague elements. The 31 “Art Lovers” in question were photographed by the artist.
MARTIN CREED, Work No. 1273, 2011
76 x 60 cm
lithograph on 300 gsm paper
edition of 250
signed, numbered, dated
pubished by Counter Editions, London, UK
Martin Creed imposes simple rules on his creativity. He might create a painting using only paintbrushes bought in a multi-pack, or make only one mark a day with the same felt-tip pen until the whole paper surface is covered. Repetition, stacks, and intervals are familiar motifs in his work, along with ascending and descending structures. For Work No.1273, Creed has made five single brush marks using a palette derived from the Olympic colours. The marks are arranged in an ascending form that seems to represent an extended podium.
History of prices:
Counter Editions, London, UK £ 640.- September 2012
SIGURDUR GUDMUNDSSON, Fragment, 1969-2010
32,3 x 23,9 cm (image 9,9 cm x 10,7 cm) / 12.7 x 9.4 inches (image size is 3.9″ x 4.2″)
black and white photograph
signed, numbered
edition 70
Depicting circumstances with absurdist tweaks, his Situations as he calls them read as visual poems that explore the idiosyncrasies of human existence and tend toward the comical while retaining philosophical gravity. Gudmundsson uses himself as the subject of the Situations, but does not consider the works to be self-portraits but, rather, open-ended reflections on a more universal level.
JOHN CAGE, Where is the war?, 1985
49 x 69 cm, torn black cardboard, edition 30 + 20 AP, signed and numbered
edition A: 30 copies, numbered 1/30 – 30/30 and
edition B: 20 copies, numbered I/XX – XX/XX, as AP
published by Edition René Block, Berlin
CANDICE BREITZ, Double, 2009
Double Pizza Girl, 2009 / Double Oun, 2009 / Double Sachika, 2009 / Double Shaun, 2009 / Double Star, 2009
C-print, each 45 x 45 cm
edition 30 + 5 AP
each numbered and signed Kunsthaus, Bregenz, Austria
not available
In allusion to Andy Warhol’s “Double Elvis,” Candice Breitz has created photographs of the five pairs of twins who participated in her performance “New York, New York.”
Candice Breitz: “I am interested in deploying the art work as a catalyst, one which momentarily freeze-frames problematic ways of making meaning, and renders them strange. My interest lies not in censoring the desires inspired by the commodity (be that commodity a hipper-than-thou consumer trademark or a cheaply printed centrefold), but in recasting them so as to expose their logic, and, in certain cases, to push their boundaries.”
History of prices:
€ 1.200,- each
€ 4.000,- set of all 5 prints August 2012
SONG DONG, Waste Not, 2012
height: ca 5 cm
metal, 2 parts, edition 100
Barbican Gallery, London € 120,- / GBP 95.- August 2012
For his first solo exhibition in UK at Barbican Gallery, Song Dong a monumental work, Waste Not, was shown in The Curve. Comprising over 10,000 items collected by Song Dong’s mother over five decades, ranging from a section of the house to metal pots and plastic bowls to blankets, bottle caps, toothpaste tubes and toys. The installation is a tribute to his mother, as well as a meditation on family life during the Cultural Revolution.
