Artnet’s First printings and multiples the auctions are back for the summer! To celebrate, we asked our team of specialists at Prints & Multiples to tell us about four works from the sale that are catching their attention this season. The sale is open for auction until July 13.
David Hockney, Panama (1972)
David Hockney, Panama (1972). East. $25,000 to $35,000.
“David Hockney’s printmaking career, which spans over 60 years, has been characterized by experimentation, challenging standards and a mastery of technique. We have a selection of fantastic Hockney prints in our sale, including some recent iPad drawings, but I find myself drawn to this relatively simple etching with aquatint from 1972. Hockney focused on printmaking in the 1960s and early 1970s because the medium blends well with the illustrative style he adopted at that time. Hockney made many portraits of the curator and close friend, Henry Geldzahler, but this one is unique because only the sitter’s hat and jacket remain to portray him. – Sylvie François, Specialist, Prints and Multiples
Yayoi Kusama, Coffee cup (1985)
Yayoi Kusama, Coffee cup (1985). East. $25,000 to $35,000.
“Since very early on as an artist, Yayoi Kusama wanted his work to permeate the world. And although it took much later in his career to achieve this, Kusama is now one of the most recognizable artists working today, his popularity stemming in part from his life story being inseparable from his art. Coffee cup print was created in 1985, eight years after the artist admitted herself to a mental institute in Tokyo and never checked out, and just a few years before international interest in her work was rekindled and catapulted to the celebrity status. It features two of its most iconic designs: its infinity net and polka dots, which adorn and surround the image of a cup of coffee, no doubt inspired by its everyday surroundings. What I find most striking about this work is the use of vivid color, which is a notable feature of his later works as well as their engagement with a larger subject.Lauren Whitton, Specialist, Prints and Multiples
El Anatsui, black and silver (2018)
El Anatsui, black and silver (2018). East. $10,000 to $15,000.
“How sculptors have chosen to translate their work into print, usually on a flat, two-dimensional plane, has always been a very curious thing. Sometimes their visual language is different from their sculpture (think Richard Serra) while others have found ways to integrate their work so seamlessly that it’s easy to identify the artist. Ghanaian artist El Anatsui, known for his large hanging totem assemblages made of disparate materials like bottle caps and scrap metal, falls into the latter category. Its edition black and silver from 2018 is a pigment print on paper from which literally springs a collage of aluminum fragments held together by copper wire. Over the past 50 years printmaking has often pushed the limits of what an artist can do, especially for those new to the field, but it’s still something amazing to see paper and metal together. This is one of the few prints produced by Anatsui and all made in collaboration with Ribuoli Digital, a multidisciplinary manufacturing studio, which has also worked with sculptors Fred Eversley and Lynda Benglis. – Conner Williams, Head of Prints and Multiples
Ed Ruscha, Dead End 2 (from Rusty Signs) (2014)
Ed Ruscha, Dead End 2 (from Rusty Signs) (2014). East. $10,000 to $15,000.
“This piece is part of a series of six works created in collaboration with Mixografia, a Los Angeles-based publisher, and my favorite.”Rusty signs” represents a shift in artist practice, moving from creating representative images of iconic signs to recreating the sign itself using innovative printing techniques. This three-dimensional work replicates the many neglected signs found across America that speak to one of the artist’s signature themes, that of time. On closer inspection, the colors reveal changes in rust, intense surface detail and even bullet holes to show its worn use. This detail is a signature of Mixografia’s creative and unique engraving style that has been used by other artists such as Louise Bourgeois and Tom Wesselmann (whose works are also featured in this sale). Dead end 2 is one of the most vibrant color waves in this series that implores the use of heavy, darker, metallic hues to represent not just rust but the passage of time. – Diego Arellano, Junior Specialist, Prints & Multiples
Browse these workssand more artists including Andy WarholRoy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat in the Premier Prints & Multiples Summer Edition auction, running until July 13, 2022.Contact the Artnet specialistsfor more details on the work.
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