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Showing posts with label keith haring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keith haring. Show all posts

Outside Art is More 'In' Than Ever.
Banksy & Bonhams.

Below is an article I found about graffiti art from the UK Sunday Times by Lindsay Baker. I've followed it with an update on the results from auction house Bonham's first ever auction devoted to Street Art, as well as with images and captions.

How Banksy made graffiti popular with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

Banksy's works now fetch six-figure sums - how did graffiti art get so mainstream?



It has that elusive cred factor, is endorsed by the likes of Brangelina, and fetches dizzying prices – there’s no mistaking the frenzy surrounding graffiti art. Still, a few eyebrows were no doubt raised at Bonhams auctioneers when it decided to host a sale of the phenomenon known as urban art. After all, this kind of work in its purest form (on the street rather than on canvas) is illegal.

Some examples of Banky's Street Art:


However, Gareth Williams, a senior specialist in urban art at Bonhams, says its outsider status – with many of its practitioners, such as Banksy, anonymous – only adds kudos, and value. “Everyone loves a rebel, and their mystique only adds to the attraction.”


Above: Angelina Jolie purchased Banksy's white bust with a bleeding bullet hole in the forehead, at a cost of £40,000 last September.

The sale includes work by the graffiti-art pioneer Keith Haring, as well as recent artists such as Paul Insect and Faile. “Their work is more accessible than some conceptual art,” says Williams. “And these artists share a political edge and a wry sense of humour, which appeals to a new generation of collectors.”


Above: a painting by Keith Haring

Darius Grant, the collector and Wall Street hedge-funder who owns work by the 1980s New York legend Jean-Michel Basquiat, has noticed a growing interest in urban art among his peers. “If you work in this world, you probably like taking risks, but you’re still part of the Establishment – it’s quite conservative. You can’t rebel at work, but you can buy rebellious art that’s shocking or subversive.”



Above: Two examples of Banksy's "Indoor Art"

This is good news for the artists – and not just in terms of sales. Those with suitable street cred are increasingly in demand in commercial spheres. Take Inkie, who made his name on the innovative Bristol scene, along with Banksy, 3D and Nick Walker.

Above: Moona Lisa by Nick Walker

Besides his private commissions, Inkie is now head of graphics at the computer-games company Sega. He also has his own T-shirt label, Flying Eyeball. At 37, Inkie, like many on the scene, has had run-ins with the law over the years, but these days, he is based in London and no longer does anything “naughty”, as he puts it: “I’m too old, and I’ve got a job and a kid now.”

Is there a danger that commercial interest will force compromises? “It’s become a lot bigger than I imagined it would,” Inkie admits. “It does make me laugh when design agencies say they want ‘Banksy-style’ graphics.”

The urban-art ethos has always been about “reclaiming” public space, or “taking what’s ours”, as Inkie puts it – and you could argue that that’s exactly what these artists are doing now.

The Urban Art sale at Bonhams is on Tuesday; www.bonhams.co.uk

and now, some links to some cool graffitti artists:

BANKSY The king of the urban art scene and master of the guerrilla stunt. Find his work on the streets of London, Bristol and other cities around the world, most recently, Bethlehem. A Banksy-daubed wall has sold for £208,000 on eBay, with the proviso that the purchaser remove it.

PAUL INSECT A recent solo show had to be cancelled after Damien Hirst bought the lot.

FAILE New York collective – highly collectible.

ADAM NEATE Subverted the genre by painting on cardboard and canvas and hanging these in public spaces.

TAKASHI MURAKAMI Japanese artist who fuses pop and manga imagery.

3D Aka Robert del Naja of Massive Attack, represented by the same management as Banksy (www.lazinc.com).

NICK WALKER Spray painting and stencils. His Moona Lisa is in the Bonhams sale.

INKIE Early innovator and creator of wild style art nouveau, much in demand
( www.flying-eyeball.com).

BLEK LE RAT The veteran French artist has inspired Banksy, among others. His works are in the Bonhams sale.

DAN BALDWIN Prints, paintings and ceramics

And How Did The Auction Go?


Above: One of Banksy's many versions of "Laugh Now", a 20 foot one of which sold for $410, 000.00 USD at tuesday's auction.

Here's the latest news from the auction:
First auction of 'street art' kicks off in London Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2pm

LONDON (AFP) — Auction house Bonhams on Tuesday organised the first sale dedicated solely to "street art", with works by American artist Keith Haring, and Banksy, who anonymously paints on London's walls, on sale. "Laugh Now", a 2002 painting by Banksy that stretches about six metres (19.7 feet) in length featuring monkeys wearing sandwich boards which read "Laugh now, but one day we'll be in charge", sold for 228,000 pounds (280,000 euros, 410,000 dollars), above its pre-sale estimate of up to 200,000 pounds. Another highlight of the auction was "Kate Moss", a portrait by Banksy of the British supermodel in the style of Andy Warhol's famous Marilyn Monroe paintings, which sold on Tuesday for 96,000 pounds, more than three times expectations.


Above: A series of Kate Moss paintings in the style of Andy Warhol were sold at a Sotheby's art auction for a record £50,400 in October of 2006

"Banksy has arrived in Bond Street," a spokesman for Bonhams told AFP, referring to the posh road where London's auction houses are based, adding that the artist's work had gone into the mainstream. "The result is very satisfying," he said. Bonhams is planning more auctions of urban art in the future, he added. Last month, a wall painted on by Banksy, depicting a classical-looking artist in mostly-grey garb, sold on Internet auction website eBay for 208,100 pounds. Banksy, originally from Bristol, western England, has attracted a global following with his graffiti paintings on the walls of London buildings, and his work has been bought by actress Angelina Jolie and singer Christina Aguilera, among others.

Banksy's work is really fabulous, especially his street art. Check out his site here.

Graffiti Art Becoming Hot Property



Graffiti art- From the street to the museum [May 07]

This article has been reprinted from artprice.com, the leader in the art market:

Historically, graffiti was a underground movement, born to the Hip-Hop rhythm in the American ‘hoods of the 1970s. It is people’s art, rough and ephemeral. Rough because it was created illegally in public spaces. Ephemeral because its lifespan, subject to external constraints, is necessarily limited. The prohibitions which hit this urban art right from its beginnings in Europe could not stop its expansion during the 1980s. At the end of the decade it had become a veritable fashion phenomenon, in the press and on museum walls. Aside from urban buildings, street furniture and public transport, the graffiti artists created works on canvas, paper or street hoardings which are now prized by a growing number of collectors.

The pioneers


above: A Basquiat serigraph

The unquestioned star of the genre is Jean-Michel BASQUIAT who is racking up million-ticket sales (more than forty). On 15 May last, a mixed-medium 1981 work smashed the artist's record in crossing the 10 million dollar mark! Initially estimated at between 6 million and 8 million dollars, the hammer went down on the lot at 13 million dollars (more than 9.6 million euros, Sotheby’s NY). Warhol’s friend with the fleeting destiny (he died at 27 years) signed his first works in the street under the pseudonym Samo. Today a small pencil or graphite drawing changes hands for between 10,000 and 20,000 euros on average and you'll need between 50,000 and 100,000 euros for a paper-based work in crayon. Prices are higher still for large formats in ink or oil pastel.


above: A Keith Haring silkscreen

Another Warhol accolyte, Keith HARING, is also a key graffiti name. He doesn’t reach the heights of Basquiat but has shown steady growth over the last four years. On 8 February last, you'd have needed not less than £56,000 to secure a small 1984 acrylic (50x50 cm) at Sotheby’s London. The same day, Sotheby’s competitor set a new record of £440,000 for a 1983 canvas (Christie’s London).

The more affordable FUTURA 2000 is one of the pioneers of urban painting which he created instinctively on the walls of Brooklyn as of the 1970s. Only 3 works from the graffiti artist have been put up for auction in ten years! The latest, an untitled acrylic and aerosol painting on a plank of wood, found a buyer for 4,000 euros in October at Artcurial who will auction a spray-painted graffiti canvas entitled Bar code (1983, 137 x 181 cm) for an estimate of between 4,000 and 5,000 euros.


above: A 1963 John Perello acrylic painting, All Are One

Graffiti art becomes sought after in France

The auction house Artcurial will auction around twenty works by American and French graffiti artists on 6 June. The sale catalogue lists the works together in a section called ‘Graffiti and post-graffiti art’: never before has a French auction house given the genre so much credit! The sale’s headline piece is the large-scale Match Point, Ephemeral Hospital, 1993 (214.5 x 190 cm) by John PERELLO, aka Jonone estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000 euros. Highly vibrant and colourful, this work takes liberties with the masters of abstract art such as Kandinsky, Pollock and de Kooning.

With these twenty lots going for estimates averaging between 5,000 and 10,000 euros, the art lover can set his or her heart on the large canvases with cartoon references signed John Matos CRASH or ASH II. There is a wide choice of works for between 1,000 and 5,000 euros: a Jonone sized at close to a metre, the abstract graffitis by SHARP, Chris Ellis DAZE, KOOR or a surreal graphic canvas by Alex/Mac-Crew. For less than 1,000 euros, one might hope to secure the spray-painted canvases by Sonic or Hondo and for a low-end estimate of 100 euros an untitled work combining several media on a plywood panel signed Thierry CHEVERNEY.

In two years, graffiti artists have seen their prices double: is the street phenomenon moving to the auction room?

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