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Author: Williams, Robert
Title: Appetite for Destruction Large Signed Limited Print
Place Published: [No place]
Publisher:Robert Williams / L'Imagerie
Date Published: 1989
Description:

Full-color print. 20.75" x 38" including margins. Limited Edition: #339 of 350, signed by Williams and with the artist's gold foil seal affixed ("Rabid with Sophistication"). Very fine condition, very light wear and dusty residue to bottom edge.

"[Williams] realized that exaggerated forms like cartoons were the truest, purest examples of abstraction. [He] arrived at the notion that cartooning in its undiluted form is a true expression of an accessible art form for the public of the 20th century.... He executed a series of what he termed 'Super Cartoons,' which were blatantly cartoonish tableaux painted in a fine meticulous style." -C.R. Stecyk, Malicious Resplendence: The Paintings of Robt. Williams [Fantagraphics: 1997].

Wilson's "Appetite for Destruction" was used as the original album cover to Guns n' Roses debut album, which borrowed its name from William's illustration. Backlash to the album cover's sexual violence was immediate: American and British record store chains refused to sell the album, so another cover was printed and the Williams illustration was moved to the liner sleeve. According to G n' R biographer Danny Sugarman, "Axl felt compelled to point out that the picture in and of itself wasn't indecent.... To him it represented ... [that] the progress of Western culture has outstripped man's spiritual and emotional ability to deal with it." -Appetite for Destruction [St. Martin's Press: 1991].

Consignments Accepted for PBA's Next Comic Book Auction. Golden Age, Silver Age, Pre-Code, Original Art, Interesting Ephemera Sought. Contact ivan@pbagalleries.com for details.

PBA COMICS March 26th Comic Book Sale catalogues available. Supplies Limited. Softcover catalogues limited to 200 copies ($45 + $5 postage/handling). Hardcovers limited to 26 lettered copies, dust jackets, special limitation plates ($150). Contact ivan@pbagalleries.com .

AMENDED 5/18/20: Robert Williams, not S. Clay Wilson