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GUYTON \ WALKER, Untitled (from the series Guyton \

Untitled (from the series Guyton \ Walker: Empire Strikes Back), 2006
Silkscreen and digital inkjet print on canvas. 48 1/8 x 36 in. (122.2 x 91.4 cm).

PROVENANCE Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
"Guyton \ Walker's project affirms not only the collapse of aesthetic judgment but capitalism's cool indifference to the meanings and values it circulates—as long as these obey the law of exchange and produce a surplus. Guyton \ Walker produce surplus with the surplus they appropriate, as if to say that everything- including history, art, the very idea of the subject—is surplus today, constantly recycled for profit or pleasure,"  (J. Kelsey, "Reviews: Guyton \ Walker," Artforum, May 2005, p. 249).   The collaborative genius of Wade Guyton and Kelley Walker as seen in the present lot, Untitled (from the series Guyton \ Walker:Empire Strikes Back), 2006 demonstrates the power of both talents in creating a work with a perverse twist. The juxtaposition of the silkscreened text of the Ketel One vodka ad and the knife cutting across the canvas reveal how Guyton \ Walker accept, and at the same time reject consumerist society. The knife stands out from the white painted background of the canvas in a threatening way as if to challenge the viewer's role in society and whether he/she will succumb to the pressures of commercial culture. In the eyes of Guyton \ Walker, we are all victims of the system.

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