Phillips' Editions, Photographs & Design Hong Kong Auction - Highlights

Editions, Photographs, and Design Auction  

Phillips Hong Kong  

Auction: 14 June 2024

Exhibition: 5 - 14 June 2024

Keith Haring

Dog (L. pp. 48-49), 1986-87 

Estimate: HK$500,000 - 700,000/ US$64,100-89,700

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Andy Warhol

Shoes (F. & S. II.257), 1980

Estimate: HK$500,000 - 700,000/ US$64,100-89,700

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Damien Hirst

The Virtues (H9), 2021 

Estimate: HK$600,000-800,000/ US$76,900-103,000

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Phillips presents a new cross-category auction, Editions, Photographs, and Design, which will take place live in Hong Kong on 14 June. The inaugural sale will feature over 100 lots, ranging from an extensive selection of Editions by sought-after artists alongside emerging names; stand-out works by some of the world’s most celebrated visual artists and photographers, including the Asia auction debut of Steven Klein’s unique Polaroid works; and a diverse array of Design works spanning the 20th and 21st Centuries, including works from notable makers such as Thomas Heatherwick, Sofu Teshigahara, Studio Drift, among others. Ahead of the auction, the sale will be on view at Phillips’ Asia headquarters in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District from 5 to14 June.

Nick Wilson, Head of Editions, Photographs and Design, Phillips Asia, said, “Phillips has a strong track record of selling these categories in our global auctions, we are excited to present them together in a dedicated sale, allowing us to not only meet buyer demand for broader collecting opportunities but also to formally offer sales across the full spectrum of Phillips' categories in Asia for the first time. As a good place to start for collecting fine art, Editions (prints and multiples) are typically more affordable than unique paintings and sculpture, but usually require highly complicated techniques with a master printer to create an edition. Photographs is also one of the more accessible types of work to add to an art collection. The most appealing attraction behind photography collecting is that it’s an approachable medium that people can immediately relate to whether it be a landscape, cityscape, portrait，or any other theme they gravitate to. Iconic Photographs and Editions by some of the world’s most sought-after artists continue to increase in popularity around the world. Our Design category has been very well received by collectors in Asia, in which the Design session featured in the 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale in Hong Kong from 2016 to 2022 always achieved a high sell through rate. We are delighted to present such a strong selection of works by a wide range of creators in the inaugural sale this summer and look forward to welcoming everyone through our galleries when the exhibition opens to the public on 5 June.”

HIGHLIGHTS FROM EDITIONS

Leading the Editions section is Keith Haring’s 'Dog' (L. pp. 48-49) from 1986-87, featuring his celebrated barking dog motif which originated in the artist’s New York subway drawings of the early 1980s. Another standout highlight by Pop Art pioneers is Andy Warhol’s iconic Shoes (F. & S. II.257), from 1980 with diamond dust, which epitomizes his fascination with glamour and celebrity. Also on offer is Damien Hirst’s complete set of The Virtues (H9), which is inspired by Bushidō, the Japanese samurai code of ethics.

Yoshitomo Nara

Walk On (M. & S. E-2010-012), 2010

Estimate: HK$300,000-500,000/ US$38,500-64,100

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Yayoi Kusama

Pumpkin (White Y) (K. 150), 1992

Estimate: HK$300,000 - 500,000/ US$38,500-64,100

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Jonas Wood

Fish Pot; Matisse Pot 4; and Snoopy Pot, 2019-2020

Estimate: HK$400,000-600,000/ US$51,300-76,900

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Further sale highlights include Yoshitomo Nara’s Walk On (M. & S. E-2010-012), a Ukiyo-e woodcut which depicts Nara’s iconic little girl with almond shaped eyes and a menacing smile set in a hard straight line. Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin (White Y) (K. 150) brings together three of Kusama’s most recognisable motifs: a pumpkin, dots, and infinity nets. Additional works on offer include Jonas Wood’s Fish Pot; Matisse Pot 4; and Snoopy Pot. Jonas Wood’s incorporation of ceramic vessels into his body of work stems from his collaborative working relationship with his wife, the ceramic artist Shio Kusaka.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

Phillips is pleased to present ULTIMATE STEVEN KLEIN for the Photographs section. Steven Klein is one of the most innovative and provocative artists in photography and film. A highly sought-after figure, he has landed coveted covers of magazines such as Vogue and W with his riveting body of work being featured globally and has shot high-profile advertising campaigns for the likes of Alexander McQueen, Tom Ford and Dior. This exclusive curation of 18 unique Polaroids from the celebrated photographer’s archive was personally chosen by Steven Klein and marks the first time his works are being offered in Asia. Showcasing Klein’s distinctive approach to photography as a means of storytelling, this exceptional grouping offers a window into the intimate relationship between photographer and subject. Taken between 1999 and 2015, the Polaroids feature striking portraits of icons in fashion, music, and film, including Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, David Bowie, Madonna, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer, among others.

Steven Klein

Kate Moss, New York City, 8 May 2003 

Estimate: HK$50,000-70,000/ US$6,400-9,000

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Steven Klein 

Justin Bieber, Los Angeles, 4 June 2015 

Estimate: HK$20,000-30,000/ US$2,600-3,800

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Steven Klein 

Madonna, Los Angeles from Confessions 

on a Dance Floor, 11 August 2005 

Estimate: HK$50,000-70,000/ US$6,400-9,000

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Other notable highlights include Francis Giacobetti’s 1988 Zebra #17, which demonstrates the artist’s unorthodox approach to technique, light and shadow and expresses the full beauty of the human body. Moreover, a print from Tim Parchikov’s Burning News, shows a person clutching a burning newspaper in the snow, which explores how humans react when the flow of information reaches a critical point.

Francis Giacobetti

Zebra #17, 1988

Estimate: HK$150,000 – 200,000/ US$19,200-25,600

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Tim Parchikov

Burning News, 2011

Estimate: HK$100,000 – 150,000/ US$12,800- 19,200

Photo courtesy of Phillips

HIGHLIGHTS FROM DESIGN 

The Design section will showcase a diverse range of works spanning the 20th and 21st Centuries, led by Sofu Teshigahara’s Six-panel folding screen. With forms and lines inspired by the dynamism of nature, the present work immediately strikes for its calligraphic, gestural and sculptural brushstrokes, reminiscent of traditional Chinese landscape as well as calligraphy. Further highlights include a seating structure made from a single piece of aluminium titled “Extrusion” bench by the multi-award-winning British architect Thomas Heatherwick, who designed Hong Kong’s Pacific Place; Studio Drift’s 'Fragile Future 3.12' explores the unexpected connection between nature and technology, and Alvar Aalto’s Early “Paimio” armchair, model no 41, whose work brought a refreshing breath of humanism to modern design.

Sofu Teshigahara

Six-panel folding screen, circa 1970

Estimate: HK$250,000 – 350,000/ US$32,100-44,900

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Thomas Heatherwick

‘Extrusion’ bench, 2011

Estimate: HK$250,000 – 350,000/ US$32,100-44,900

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Studio Drift

'Fragile Future 3.12', 2017

Estimate: HK$150,000 – 250,000/ US$19,200-32,100

Photo courtesy of Phillips

Alvar Aalto

Early ‘Paimio’ armchair, model no 41, circa 1933

Estimate: HK$80,000 – 120,000/ US$10,300-15,400

Photo courtesy of Phillips

PHILLIPS' Editions, Photographs and Design Hong Kong Auction 

Auction: 14 June 2024, 2pm HKT

Public Exhibition: 5 - 14 June, 11am – 7pm HKT

Location: G/F, WKCDA Tower, West Kowloon Cultural District, No. 8 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong

PHILLIPS

www.phillips.com

Damien Hirst @ Château la Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade - Exposition "The Light That Shines"

Damien Hirst: The Light That Shines

Château la Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade

2 mars – 23 juin 2024 

Pour la première fois depuis sa création en 2011, Château La Coste confie l’intégralité de son domaine à un artiste : DAMIEN HIRST. Pour l’occasion, des œuvres de l’artiste britannique sont réparties sur l’ensemble des 200 hectares du vignoble provençal et dans ses pavillons emblématiques dessinés par les plus grands architectes des XXe et XXIe siècles.

Intitulée The Light That Shines (La Lumière qui brille), cette exposition exceptionnelle comprend des sculptures et peintures de Damien Hirst - certaines devenues célèbres, d’autres inédites. Depuis le début de sa carrière prolifique, l’artiste explore les thèmes de la beauté, de la religion, de la science, de la vie et de la mort. Dans les années 1990, il se fait connaître à travers des animaux plongés dans des cuves de formol. Des œuvres majeures de cette série, intitulée Natural History, sont présentées dans le Pavillon Renzo Piano.

Le papillon est un autre motif récurrent dans l’œuvre de Damien Hirst. Une série de toiles inédites, The Empress est dévoilée dans la Galerie Richard Rogers. Portant chacune le nom de grandes figures féminines de l’histoire, ces œuvres reproduisent des formes kaléidoscopiques à l’aide d’ailes de papillons rouges et noires.

Également inédites, des toiles de la série Cosmos et des sculptures de la série Meteorites sont exposées dans la Galerie des Anciens Chais restaurée par Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Damien Hirst nourrit depuis longtemps l’idée de concevoir une exposition pour cet espace. Après avoir réalisé For the Love of God, son fameux crâne en diamants et envoyé l’une de ses peintures Spot sur Mars, il s’est mis en quête de reproduire la beauté des galaxies étoilées, capturée par le télescope Hubble Space dans les années 1990. C’est là tout l’objet de la série Cosmos pour laquelle l’artiste a cloué au sol de son atelier des toiles qu’il a entièrement peintes en noir avant de les recouvrir de couleurs.

Les sculptures de la série Satellites en bronze évoquent une certaine nostalgie. Damien Hirst s’est inspiré des moules des bronzes de Degas pour les réaliser et leur a apposé des étiquettes avec une écriture victorienne, leur donnant ainsi un aspect à la fois neuf et ancien. Une partie des Satellites a été produites en verre, en collaboration avec des artisans de Murano. L’exposition comprend également des Meteorites en bronze, inspirés par les fréquentes visites de l’artiste dans des musées d’histoire naturelle.

L'Auditorium Oscar Niemeyer accueille des sculptures et des négatoscopes (boîtes à lumière) de la série Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, exposées pour la première fois en 2017 à la Punta della Dogana et au Palazzo Grassi à Venise. Quant à la Galerie Bastide, elle abrite la série la plus récente de l’artiste, The Secret Gardens Paintings : des toiles représentant des fleurs éclatantes, recouvertes de formes abstraites aux couleurs vives.

Outre les expositions présentées dans les pavillons, l’exposition s’étend à l’ensemble du domaine de Château La Coste, sur lequel seront réparties des sculptures, y compris sur les sites du Pavillon de musique de Frank Ghery et du Centre d’art de Tadao Ando.

Selon Damien Hirst, « Ce que Paddy McKillen a accompli à Château La Coste est exceptionnel. Il en a fait un endroit unique et magique. Je suis ravi d’être le premier artiste à pouvoir exposer mes œuvres sur l’ensemble du domaine, notamment dans les magnifiques pavillons dessinés par Frank Gehry, Oscar Niemeyer et Richard Rogers. Paddy McKillen est un ami et j’admire son génie, sa vision pour créer des endroits où l’on se sent bien. C’est un immense honneur pour moi de prendre part à cette aventure ».

Paddy McKillen, fondateur de Château La Coste, a ajouté : « Damien et moi nourrissons l’idée de cette exposition depuis plusieurs années. Comme cela est souvent le cas avec Damien, le projet a évolué et pris forme au gré de nombreuses conversations, ponctuées de fous rires et de tasses de thé. Damien a tout planifié d’une main de maître : le choix de chaque œuvre a été pensé et mûri pour faire écho à l’art et à l’architecture du domaine, ainsi qu’à la lumière provençale si chère à Cézanne. La rencontre des toiles et des sculptures de Damien avec la nature environnante et nos galeries générera une œuvre à part entière. C’est une grande fierté et un immense privilège d’accueillir Damien et son équipe à Château La Coste et de pouvoir y exposer l’œuvre d’une vie. Nous nous réjouissons de partager ce projet avec le plus grand nombre ».

DAMIEN HIRST

Né à Bristol, Damien Hirst vit et travaille entre Londres et la région du Devon. Son travail est présent dans les collections de nombreux musées à travers le monde : le Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina de Naples; le Museum Brandhorst à Munich; le Museum für Moderne Kunst de Frankfurt am Main; le Stedelijk Museum à Amsterdam; le Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo de Madrid; la Tate de Londres; l’Israel Museum de Jérusalem; le Astrup Fearnley Museet d’Oslo; la Gallery of Modern Art de Glasgow ; le Centre National d’Art contemporain de Moscou; le Museum of Modern Art de New York; le Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden de Washington, DC; l’Art Institute of Chicago; The Broad à Los Angeles; le Museo Jumex à Mexico City; et le 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art de Kanazawa au Japon.

Son travail a également fait partie de grandes expositions: Cornucopia au Musée océanique de Monaco (2010); Tate Modern, Londres (2012); Relics, Qatar Museums Authority, Al Riwaq (2013); Signification (Hope, Immortality and Death in Paris, Now and Then), Deyrolle, Paris (2014); Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2015); The Last Supper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (2016); Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, Venise (2017); Damien Hirst at Houghton Hall: Colour Space Paintings and Outdoor Sculptures, Houghton Hall, Norfolk (2019); Mental Escapology, St. Moritz (2021); Cherry Blossoms, Fondation Cartier, Paris (2021); et Archaeology Now, Galleria Borghese, Rome (2021). Damien Hirst a reçu le Turner Prize en 1995. 

Château la Coste 

2750 Route de la Cride, 13610 Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade

www.chateau-la-coste.com

Damien Hirst: The Psalms, McCabe Fine Art, Stockholm

Damien Hirst: The Psalms

McCabe Fine Art, Stockholm 

August 29 - October 22, 2014

McCabe Fine Art presents the British artist DAMIEN HIRST’s first solo exhibition in Sweden. Known for producing art that breaks boundaries and explores the relationships between art, science, religion, death and beauty, Hirst has developed a wide-ranging artistic practice that includes installation, sculpture, painting and drawing. In the twenty-six years since he emerged as a leading member of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement with ‘Freeze’, the seminal exhibition curated by Damien Hirst in 1988, the artist has risen to international fame with iconic works that include the shark suspended in formaldehyde (The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991) and the diamond-encrusted skull (For the Love of God, 2007). Painting has also remained an important aspect of Hirst’s practice with prolific series including the ‘Spot Paintings’, ‘Spin Paintings’ and the ‘Kaleidoscopes’; in which vibrantly colored butterfly wings are arranged in intricate patterns and stuck into household gloss paint.

In 2008 Damien Hirst created a series of one hundred and fifty ‘Psalm’ paintings, each named after an Old Testament psalm. The works on display at McCabe Fine Art are the most significant selection of ‘Psalms’ ever to have been exhibited together. As part of Hirst’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ series, these striking pieces touch on all religions and offer a variety of readings that range from the specific to the universal. The symbolism referenced in the ‘Psalms’ evokes both spirituality and the butterfly’s natural metamorphosis. They allude to both Christian iconography, and stained glass church windows, whilst also seeming to possess the meditative abstract patterns of Hindu and Buddhist mandalas.

Damien Hirst attributes his long-term fascination with the butterfly to their universal appeal, once stating: “I think rather than be personal you have to find universal triggers: everyone’s frightened of glass, everyone’s frightened of sharks, everyone loves butterflies.” The patterns of wings can’t help but celebrate the aesthetic and lyrical splendor of life. As with much of Hirst’s work, the ‘Psalms’ also have a darker, more complex meaning. Deceptively hopeful and bright, these paintings hover between life and death. Although undeniably dazzling manifestations of the natural world, each also constitutes a somber memento mori. Damien Hirst thus raises the question of whether his chosen imagery should be considered to represent that which is beautiful, poignant and uplifting or perhaps merely acts as a reminder that all existence, while it may be beautiful, is ultimately fleeting and fragile.

A fully-illustrated book of the complete ‘Psalm’ paintings is to be published by Other Criteria.

DAMIEN HIRST - BIOGRAPHY

Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol and grew up in Leeds. In 1984 he moved to London, where he worked in construction before studying for a BA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths college from 1986 to 1989. Whilst in his second year, he conceived and curated a group exhibition entitled ‘Freeze’. The show is commonly acknowledged to have been the launching point not only for Hirst, but for a generation of British artists.

Since the late 1980s, Damien Hirst has used a varied practice of installation, sculpture, painting and drawing to explore the complex relationship between art, life and death, explaining: “Art’s about life and it can’t really be about anything else … there isn’t anything else.” Through his work, he investigates and challenges contemporary belief systems, and dissects the uncertainties at the heart of human experience.

Since 1987, over 80 solo Damien Hirst exhibitions have taken place worldwide and his work has been included in over 260 group shows. Hirst’s solo exhibitions include Qatar Museums Authority, ALRIWAQ Doha (2013–2014); Tate Modern, London (2012); Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (2010); Oceanographic Museum, Monaco (2010); The Wallace Collection, London (2009–2010); Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague (2009); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2008); Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo (2005); and Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (2004). He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1995. The artist currently lives and works in Gloucester, Devon and London.

MCCABE FINE ART

Artillerigatan 40, 11445 Stockholm

www.mccabefineart.com

This Is Not a Love Song at La Virreina Image Centre, Barcelona

This Is Not a Love Song
La Virreina Image Centre, Barcelona
22 May - 13 October 2013

La Virreina Image Centre presents This Is Not a Love Song, an exhibition that sets out to trace the genealogy of the relations between pop music and video-creation from the 1960s to today, with the emphasis on those moments in which there was feedback between the two manifestations as they explored the field of experiment, utopia and political incorrectness.

Since the 1960s, various generations of avant-garde artists have integrated into their production processes elements that are related with the attitudes and imaginaries of pop music. Artists of the calibre of Andy Warhol, Vito Acconci, Dan Graham, Nam June Paik, Joseph Beuys, John Baldessari, Rodney Graham, Tony Oursler, Christian Marclay, Mike Kelley, Douglas Gordon, Jeremy Deller or Damien Hirst, and many more, down to today, have approached this genre in some of their most outstanding works, sometimes even collaborating with different rock bands or recording their own albums. Similarly, leading musicians such as John Lennon, David Bowie, Pete Townshend, Syd Barret, Brian Eno, Alan Vega, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson and members of essential bands of the last two decades, like Sonic Youth, REM, Blur, or Franz Ferdinand all trained at art school before becoming professional musicians.

From this approach and bearing in mind that the origins of video-art run almost parallel to those of pop music, the project is divided into two sections:

1- Pop and video-creation. Shared genealogies

This section includes more than 30 significant works in the history of video art and experimental film from the 1960s to 2013 that are formally and conceptually related to the iconographies of pop and rock, with works by Andy Warhol, Nam June Paik, Yayoi Kusama. Dan Graham, Tony Oursler, Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Christian Marclay, Douglas Gordon, Candice Breitz, Jeremy Deller, Mark Leckey, Jon Mikel Euba, Largen & Bread and others.

2- Music for your eyes. Visual arts and the aesthetics of the videoclip

This section is a journey through the history of the musical videoclip to review the careers of the most important authors of the last 40 years and their connections with contemporary visual arts and cinema and includes a programme of music videos by artists like Andy Warhol, Tony Oursler, Judith Barry, Robert Longo, Joan Morey, Damien Hirst, Ana Laura Aláez, Carles Congost, Pipilotti Rist, Dara Birnbaum, Joseph Beuys, Adel Abidin, Hugo Alonso, Charles Atlas, Marc Bijl, Olaf Breuning, Charley Case, Cheryl Donegan, Jorge Galindo i Santiago Sierra, Jesús Hernández, Bjørn Melhus, César Pesquera, John Sanborn, Kit Fitzgerald (Antarctica), etc.

Curator: F. Javier Panera

 This is Not a Love Song: Interfaces between Visual Arts and Pop Music

Exhibition Catalogue

Exhibition co-produced by Screen Projects / La Virreina Centre de la Imatge / Primavera Sound

La Virreina Centre de la Imatge
Palau de la Virreina
La Rambla, 99 - 08002 Barcelona
http://lavirreina.bcn.cat/

Damien Hirst: Spot Paintings, Gagosian Gallery exhibition in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva, and Hong Kong

Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011 Gagosian Gallery's eleven locations 

Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, through February 10, 2012 New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, through February 18 Rome, Athens, through March 10 Geneva, through March 17, 2012

I was always a colorist, I’ve always had a phenomenal love of color… I mean, I just move color around on its own. So that’s where the spot paintings came from—to create that structure to do those colors, and do nothing. I suddenly got what I wanted. It was just a way of pinning down the joy of color.

—Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst at Gagosian Gallery

© Damien Hirst/ Science Ltd, 2012 

Photography Prudence Cuming Associates

Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011, take place at once across all of Gagosian Gallery’s eleven locations. Most of the paintings are being lent by private individuals and public institutions, more than 150 different lenders from twenty countries. Conceived as a single exhibition in multiple locations, The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011 makes use of this demographic fact to determine the content of each exhibition according to locality.

Included in the exhibition are more than 300 paintings, from the first spot on board that Damien Hirst created in 1986; to the smallest spot painting comprising half a spot and measuring 1 x 1/2 inch (1996); to a monumental work comprising only four spots, each 60 inches in diameter; and up to the most recent spot painting completed in 2011 containing 25,781 spots that are each 1 millimeter in diameter, with no single color ever repeated.

PUBLICATION

The exhibition is accompagnied by the publication of The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011, a fully illustrated, comprehensive and definitive catalogue of all spot paintings made by Damien Hirst from 1986 to the present. Published by Gagosian Gallery and Other Criteria, The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011 includes essays by Museum of Modern Art curator Ann Temkin, cultural critic Michael Bracewell, and art historian Robert Pincus-Witten as well as a conversation between Damien Hirst, Ed Ruscha and John Baldessari.

The third issue of the Gagosian App for iPad providing an interactive, in-depth look at the series that features more than ninety spot paintings.

Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011 precedes the first major museum retrospective of Hirst’s work opening at Tate Modern in London in April, 2012.

DAMIEN HIRST was born in 1965 in Bristol, England. Solo exhibitions include "The Agony and the Ecstasy," Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples (2004); "A Selection of Works by Damien Hirst from Various Collections," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2005); Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo (2005); "For the Love of God," Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2008); "No Love Lost," The Wallace Collection, London (2009); "Requiem," Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev (2009); and “Cornucopia,” the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco (2010). He received the Turner Prize in 1995. His work is included in many important public and private collections throughout the world. Damien Hirst lives and works in London and Devon, United Kingdom.

GAGOSIAN GALLERY

www.gagosiangallery.com

New York, NY, USA: 980 Madison Avenue & 555 West 24th Street & 522 West 21st Street - Beverly Hills, LA, USA: 456 North Camden Drive - London, UK: 6-24 Britannia Street & 17-19 Davies Street - Paris, France: 4 Rue de Ponthieu - Rome, Italy: Via Francesco Crispi 16 - Geneva, Switzerland: 19 Place de Longemalle - Athens, Greece: 3 Merlin Street - Hong Kong, China: 7/F, 12 Pedder Street

Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book at V&A Museum, London

BLOOD ON PAPER: 

THE ART OF THE BOOK
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
15 April - 29 June 2008

Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book reveals the astonishing inventiveness with which the book has been treated by some of the most influential and respected artists of our time. Blood on Paper presents a selection of works from Matisse, Miró and Pablo Picasso to Anthony Caro, Damien Hirst and Anish Kapoor and includes a major new work by Anselm Kiefer. On show will be beautifully bound volumes, sculptural works and installations.

Many notable artists of the 20th and 21st centuries have produced books, or works that refer to books. The exhibition displays 60 works by 38 artists and focuses on new and contemporary work but also looks back to the artists working in Paris shortly after World War II, who gave a new breath of life to the genre of the ‘livre d’artiste’.

Anselm Kiefer’s monumental book The secret life of plants (2008) has been commissioned for Blood on Paper. Created in lead and cardboard and standing almost two metres tall, it will be installed at the entrance to the exhibition. Three other large-scale works by Anselm Kiefer will also be exhibited. 

Anish Kapoor’s intimately disturbing Wound (2005) is a work in four parts, the third of which is a book sculpture with a ‘wound’ laser-cut through hundreds of sheets of paper. All four parts including drawings will be on display.

Two cabinets from Damien Hirst’s New Religion (2005) will be on show. The first is a black leather cabinet entitled Jesus Christ and the second a white leather cabinet named Saint Philip. The cabinets open to reveal five satin lined compartments each holding Damien Hirst sculptures, The Crucifix, The Fate of Man, The Eucharist, The Sacred Heart and a single butterfly painting. A set of drawers house 44 silkscreen prints in cloth-bound portfolios. Each cabinet reflects Damien Hirst’s concern with issues such as belief, mortality, love, seduction and consumption.

Pablo Picasso’s Deux Contes (1947) and Matisse’s Jazz (1947) are among works which set an international standard for the ‘livre d’artiste’. Artists have reacted in different ways to the possibilities offered by books as a means of expression. Powerful interpreters of texts include Balthus and his dramatic illustrations for the narrative of Wuthering Heights (1993), while Louise Bourgeois’ spiders in Ode à Ma Mère (1995) almost creep out of the page.

Set against these finely-printed editions are commercially produced publications by Edward Ruscha and Jeff Koons. Copies of Ed Ruscha’s Twenty six gasoline stations (1962) were sold for $1 at supermarkets to avoid the gallery and art-publishing network. The Jeff Koons Handbook (1992) is the first book where Koons himself presents his work and is billed as an ‘indispensable paper-back guide to his art and ideas’.

Blood on Paper aims to show books as a unique way of seeing artists’ creative processes. The results range from the humble to the sophisticated, from traditional fine printing to advanced computer-based methods of design and craftsmanship. Martin Parr’s Benidorm Album (1997) uses the simple solution of a standard mount for his book of colour photographs. The creative partnership between artist and publisher is highlighted in Anthony Caro’s Open Secret (2004). Caro and Ivory Press worked closely together using advanced technology in metal fabrication to create books in stainless steel and bronze.

Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book is co-curated by Rowan Watson, Senior Curator in the National Art Library, part of the Word & Image Department at the V&A and Elena Foster, founder and director of Ivory Press, publisher of limited edition books containing original works of art by contemporary artists. Nine works are on loan from Ivory Press for this exhibition including Anish Kapoor’s Wound and Anthony Caro’s Open Secret.

Rowan Watson said, “In all their myriad formats, books continue as among the most potent means of artistic expression. This exhibition examines what happens when major artists of today – all of whom have established their presence through other media – consider the matter of making books. In many, such is the fusion between text and image that subsequent readings of either text or image in different contexts appear impoverished.”

Elena Foster said, “Passion and energy are the creative blood which permeates all of these works. Yet Blood on Paper aims to break away from the conventions of the artists’ book, to show how the genre has developed from the historically important ‘livre d’artiste’ of Matisse and Picasso to powerful contemporary interpretations of Kiefer and Caro who have used lead and metal instead of paper.”

Art works are on show by: Francis Bacon, Balthus, Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Daniel Buren, Jean-Marc Bustamante, Cai Guo-Qiang, Anthony Caro, Eduardo Chillida, Francesco Clemente, Jean Dubuffet, Sam Francis, Alberto Giacometti, Damien Hirst, Iliazd, Anish Kapoor, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Pierre Lecuire, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Long, Paul McCarthy, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Isamu Noguchi, Martin Parr, Tom Phillips, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Paula Rego, Dieter Roth, Edward Ruscha, Antoni Tàpies, Richard Tuttle and Not Vital.

The National Art Library: The V&A has collected books as objects since 1851. 40 per cent of the exhibition comes from the holdings at the National Art Library. The National Art Library holds the largest collection of artists' books in the UK. The collection is international in scope and is particularly strong in examples from the British Isles and the United States. The Library also has significant holdings from other western European countries, as well as some examples from Russia, Australia, Latin America, Japan and a number of other countries. The collection includes both multiples and unique works. New acquisitions of works are made on a highly selective basis.

Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book is sponsored by Deutsche Bank.

Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
15 April - 29 June 2008
Posts about other 2008 exhibitions at A&V London
Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970
The Story of The Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection
China Design Now
The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957
The Art of Lee Miller