RICHARD PETTIBONE (b. 1938) TRIPLE FLAG WITH

Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist
Private collection

I BEGAN MAKING COPIES IN THE 60'S WHEN I GOT OUT OF ART SCHOOL IN LOS ANGELES. POP ART WAS IN VOGUE AT THE TIME AND EVERYBODY WAS DOING SOME FORM OF IT. YET WHEN I WOULD POINT OUT THAT SOME ONE WAS BORROWING HEAVILY FROM LICHTENSTEIN, THEY WOULD BE OFFENDED. SO I DECIDED TO CALL A SPADE A SPADE. EVERYONE WAS COPYING ANYWAY BUT DENYING IT.
Richard Pettibone taken from an exhibition catalogue for the Arts Club of Chicago exhibition, RICHARD PETTIBONE: SCULPTURE,1995, n.p.

Experimenting with the issues of originality, repetition and scale in his work, Richard Pettibone has created a large body of work that has been widely exhibited, garnering him worldwide acclaim. Since the 1960s Pettibone has been appropriating the imagery of other artists and recreating some of their signature works. By manipulating their scale, composition and juxtaposition of images–layering image upon image–he has succeeded in redefining the boundaries between fine art and craft. Pettibone has developed a signature style and built a reputation as one of the originators of appropriation art.

The present lot is a seminal example of Pettibone's superb mastery of his medium and craft. Creating his work with an almost irresistible tenderness, the miniature versions of Andy Warhol's FLOWERS and Jasper Johns' THREE AMERICAN FLAGS become reborn–to a new life where the primary focus is not on the subject matter but shifted and directed toward the exquisite craftsmanship and obsessive attention to detail paid by the artist.