David Shrigley, I Must Rest My Rampage Is Over, from You Are Special, 2021, ceramic multiple. Editions & Selected Works from the Lower East Side Printshop Archives: Online Auction.
Here, we ask the youngest members of our Editions team — peer to peer — for their impressions on lots that stand out to them, given a $1000 budget and a challenge to not take themselves too seriously. Not only are prices within reach — with over 80 lots being offered at No Reserve — but the team’s selections speak to the values and interests of the current cultural moment.
So what are our major takeaways? Pop culture is in, with a touch of irony (and we can’t lie and say that cuteness doesn’t tip the scale). We love it cause it’s cool, simple as that. We’re fascinated by what our cohort thinks, but we trust our gut. We embrace fresh perspectives but appreciate a nod and wink to the past (with a fondness for footnotes). Because collecting art shouldn’t feel like a job. It should be pure fun!
Our online auction running from 4 to 11 September is a perfect fit for young collectors aspiring to build an exciting collection: Editions & Selected Works from the Lower East Side Printshop Archives: Online Auction.
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg, N.Y.C. Pretzel, 1994, screenprint on brown laser-cut three-ply corrugated cardboard. Editions & Selected Works from the Lower East Side Printshop Archives: Online Auction.
Audrey Bastian, Cataloguer
Nothing I want more in this sale than this little cardboard pretzel, topped with screenprinted salt. From clothespins to cherry-spoon bridges and pastries, who doesn’t want their very own Oldenburg delectable? Perfect in every way (I don’t really need mustard), Oldenburg epitomizes this savory treat in utilitarian cardboard. Need I say more? 🥨🥨🥨
Hiroshi Kumagai
Hiroshi Kumagai, Air Jordan I, 2008, screenprint with hand-stitching and collage. Editions & Selected Works from the Lower East Side Printshop Archives: Online Auction.
Sophie Shapiro, Associate Cataloguer
Get the all-new, expertly-crafted Air Jordan I by Hiroshi Kumagai — NEW from The Lower East Side Printshop! For the first time ever, here is an innovative Air Jordan that is “one size fits all” — the perfect gift for anyone in your life! This iconic and revolutionary Air Jordan I could be yours today. Act quick and use code PHILLIPS20 for 20% Off your first online purchase (while supplies last) — just kidding! It’s comfortable, stylish, versatile, and some might say a perfect investment piece. This hand-stitched work of art will surely be the perfect addition to your growing collection. Don’t miss this chance to own a piece of athletic history!
Mel Ramos
Mel Ramos, Korn Kween, 1998, lithograph and screenprint. Editions & Selected Works from the Lower East Side Printshop Archives: Online Auction.
Fiona Fraser, Sale Coordinator
In 1998, Mel Ramos must have had a premonition that the summer of 2024 would embrace the rise of the Midwestern princess. Like Boticelli’s Venus rising from the ocean on her half shell, Ramo’s Korn Kween emerges bold and confident from her golden and green corn husk. Ramos’ ladies have grown on me over the years in their celebration of Americana and unashamed presence — why not? — and this Midwestern princess is embracing her kitsch and state-fair-loving self, too. Perhaps she was a beauty queen in her youth, voted the Korn Kween before leaving the pastoral heartland for the big city lights? Or maybe an allegory of the increasingly mythological American dream? All I know is that I have some major hair envy.
David Shrigley
David Shrigley, I Must Rest My Rampage Is Over, from You Are Special, 2021, ceramic multiple. Editions & Selected Works from the Lower East Side Printshop Archives: Online Auction.
Henry Wahlenmayer, Intern
I will be the first to admit that the work of David Shrigley didn’t immediately click with me. I thought the figures were cute and the captions were goofy, but the overall effect was a quippy wine coaster / Facebook meme / novelty tea towel kind of vibe. The truth is that I was being a little pretentious (a hater, if you will) and not giving Shrigley his fair shot.
Once you tune into his specific frequency, I find, the artist has a lot to offer. Gleefully simplistic, Shrigley reminds me that face value is still a kind of value. He makes his grand statements in a way one can instantly appreciate — and, in that, he’s a better communicator than many of his contemporaries. More than anything else, his stuff just makes me smile. This is simply an elephant who must rest, because his rampage is over. Isn’t that relatable? Don’t you find that relatable?
William Powhida
William Powhida, Tips For Artists Who Want To Sell (new and unimproved), 2010, screenprint. Editions & Selected Works from the Lower East Side Printshop Archives: Online Auction.
Elizabeth Hoskins, Associate Researcher
Ramping up the humorously practical advice of the late and great John Baldessari, William Powhida’s Tips For Artists Who Want To Sell (new and unimproved) oozes such a fun, ultramodern vulgarity — and accuracy. If Baldessari’s 1960s recommendations for success now read a bit old school, lacking a certain present-day oomph (Cornball marine pictures? Hackneyed roosters? Boring basic still lifes? Total snoozers!), Powhida’s suitably snarky tips instead expose the absurdities of our new, contemporary art market: as an artist, you should “remain sexually available,” always “maintain a vague political subtext,” and maybe even keep in your back pocket the idea that “anything looks like art in glass vitrines.” Like any good satirist, Powhida’s words ring true. Now, the artist is just as much a commodity as their art… So if you really want to make it big as an art-world rockstar, it might be high time to make a deal with the devil and “sell your soul to Larry”!
Chinatsu Ban
Chinatsu Ban, So-Zo Pregnant, So-Zo Giving Birth, 2004, offset lithograph. Editions & Selected Works from the Lower East Side Printshop Archives: Online Auction.
Vivienne Lange, Administrator
Who is So-Zo? I have been curious about and captivated by this little red elephant and her babies floating in their bubbles ever since I first laid eyes on So-Zo Pregnant, So-Zo Giving Birth. Each of Chinatsu Ban’s works is sweeter and more whimsical than the next, and this lithograph is no exception. In Chinatsu Ban’s storybook world filled with multicolored characters, giant ice cream cones, and floating baby elephants, what’s not to love!
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