Le Destin, Plate XVI. Est. £5,000-7,000. Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.
LONDON – Henri Matisse’s cut-outs have been receiving floods of visitors at the Tate Modern exhibition “Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs,” which opened earlier this year. On Thursday, July 3, Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions will offer collectors and investors the opportunity to take home some of the fascinating and rare cut-out works from the final chapter of Matisse’s diverse and influential career in a sale of Modern & Contemporary Prints.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Despite ill health that left him immobile and unable to paint or draw freely, Matisse embarked on a new phase of his career that would prove to be his most influential and celebratory. Taking inspiration from the circus, he used a pair of scissors to cut lively shapes from brightly colored gouache-painted paper creating a series of paper cut-outs, papier decoupés, which were published in Jazz, 1947, a limited-edition book containing color pochoirs of the paper cut collages, accompanied by his written thoughts. Widely regarded as the most important artist’s book of the 20th century, it is scarce that individual plates from Jazz, such as these, should appear at auction.
A union between drawing and color, Matisse called this dynamic style “painting with scissors.”
Originally intended as illustrations for a poetry collection, Matisse instead replaced the verse with his own notes, which were originally written with a paintbrush in looping letters.
Henri Matisse: “You see as I am obliged to remain often in bed because of the state of my health, I have made a little garden all around me where I can walk … There are leaves, fruits and a bird.”
The combination of vivid colors with abstract and figurative subject matter evokes a glorious celebration of life against adversity. These highly sought after Jazz prints echo today as one of the most beautiful and groundbreaking series of 20th century art.
The Samuel Betts (London, active 1645-1673) ebonized bracket clock, circa 1660-1665, realized $109,250. The winning Australian buyer won the clock through LiveAuctioneers in a heated battle against seven phone bidders and numerous other Internet bidders. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.
MT. CRAWFORD, Va. – A rare 17th century English clock made by Samuel Betts of London sold for a record price of $109,250 during the firm’s 26th semiannual cataloged auction of Americana, antiques, and fine and decorative arts, held June 21. The winning Australian buyer won the clock through LiveAuctioneers.com in a heated battle against seven phone bidders and numerous other Internet bidders.
The circa 1650-1665 ebonized-case bracket clock, with engraved brass dial signed “Samuel Betts London” in script, featured a double-fusee movement. It carried a pristine provenance, coming from the collection of Kenneth Henry Leach, who purchased the clock circa 1911-1912 from an antique shop in rural England; thence by descent to the consignor Maurice Derby Leach Jr. and Virginia Baskett Leach, of Lexington, Va. The clock also came with an extensive examination report prepared for the Leach family in 1991 by W. David Todd of the Smithsonian Institution.
Samuel Betts (active 1645-1673) was an important early English clockmaker who made both watches and bracket clocks. Betts is often associated with Edward East (1610-1693), who is generally regarded as one of the finest clockmakers of the period and served as clockmaker to Charles I and Charles II.
As always, Evans and his staff offered a fine selection of important Virginia furniture and decorative arts, which drew strong interest and heated bidding. Leading the way was a rare mahogany Chippendale side chair attributed to the shop of Robert Walker in Fredericksburg, circa 1745-1760, with a lovely shaped crest and heavily scrolled ears. It sold for $28,750 against a $3,000-$5,000 presale estimate to an advanced Virginia collector (Lot 434). Several other early Virginia chairs were offered including a circa 1785-1795 mahogany transitional Chippendale corner or smoking chair from the Petersburg, Va., area. It had descended in the prominent Sydnor family of Richmond and Petersburg and sold for $16,100 against the $5,000-$8,000 estimate (Lot 433). Case furniture included a fine figured walnut Chippendale desk with a slightly later bookcase top, made in the Tidewater area circa 1760-1780, that survived in fine condition. The condition, combined with its direct descent through 10 generations of the Woodhouse and Davis families of Virginia, pushed its final selling price to more than 10 times its low estimate ending at $23,000 (Lot 443).
The auction offered an array of fine art including a Porfirio Salinas landscape painting measuring only 8 1/2 by 11 1/2 inches, depicting a lush field of bluebonnets. Salinas’ work is much admired in Texas and attracted strong attention from bidders in that part of the country, selling for $8,050, far over the estimate of $1,000-$2,000 (Lot 636).
Among the decorative objects offered, a Limoges dinner plate from the Lincoln White House sold to a descendant of Mary Todd Lincoln for a strong result, realizing $9,200, even though the rim had sustained significant damage in one area. Its estimate was reasonable, $300-$500, and its final price proves the adage that rarity sells well even if condition moderates the price paid (Lot 659). The plate had recently surfaced and was formerly in the collection of Dorothy Fowler Cooper of Washington, D.C.
After the auction company president and head auctioneer Jeffrey S. Evans commented, “Outstanding fresh-to-the market merchandise with no reserves and conservative estimates continues to excite bidders. This is especially true for Southern material that retains its provenance. Buyers are looking for pieces that tell a story that they can relate to.” He went on to add, “One of our main objectives when cataloging is to bring out these stories, place the material within an historical context, and research and record as much of the history/provenance of the piece as possible. That is what brings these objects to life and engages collectors.”
The 679-lot auction realized $544,000 including the 15 percent buyer’s premium. More than 2,500 bidders from 31 different countries registered for the sale.
For further information email info@jeffreysevans.com or call 540-434-3939.
The Samuel Betts (London, active 1645-1673) ebonized bracket clock, circa 1660-1665, realized $109,250. The winning Australian buyer won the clock through LiveAuctioneers in a heated battle against seven phone bidders and numerous other Internet bidders. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.
The circa 1785-1795 mahogany transitional Chippendale corner or smoking chair from the Petersburg, Va., area, sold for $16,100 against the $5,000-$8,000 estimate. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.
A rare mahogany Chippendale side chair attributed to the shop of Robert Walker in Fredericksburg, Va. circa 1745-1760 sold for $28,750 against a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.
A fine Virginia figured walnut Chippendale desk with a slightly later bookcase top, realized $23,000. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.
A Limoges dinner plate from the Lincoln White House sold to a descendant of Mary Todd Lincoln for $9,200, even though the rim had sustained significant damage in one area. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.
A fine Porfirio Salinas landscape painting measuring only 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches sold for $8,050. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.
A diminutive painted-decorated pine blanket chest from Pennsylvania, circa 1830, sold for $7,475. Its unusual design, condition and size brought lots of attention and it sold for three times the estimate. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.
LONDON – German artist Thomas Ganter was named winner of the BP Portrait Award 2014 on Wednesday at the National Portrait Gallery. The prestigious first prize – in the 25th anniversary year of the competition – was won by the 40-year-old Frankfurt artist for Man with a Plaid Blanket, a striking portrait of a homeless car-windshield cleaner.
Ganter was presented with £30,000 and a commission, at the National Portrait Gallery Trustees’ discretion, worth £5,000. The portrait can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery from Thursday, June 26, when the BP Portrait Award 2014 exhibition opens to the public.
A chance sighting outside Frankfurt’s Städel Museum provided the artist with the inspiration for his first prize-winning entry, the first for a German artist in the competition’s history. Having spent a rainy afternoon viewing the Städel’s collection of Old Masters, Ganter was struck by the similarities between many of the museum’s paintings and the homeless man he noticed on a nearby street.
The second prize of £10,000 went to Bath, UK-based teacher and artist Richard Twose, 51, for Jean Woods, a portrait depicting the model and star of the documentary Fabulous Fashionistas.
The third prize of £8,000 went to Brooklyn, N.Y.-based artist David Jon Kassan, 37, for Letter to my Mom, a portrait of his mother including a written tribute in Hebrew inscribed into the painting.
Ganter is an artist and illustrator from Frankfurt/Main, Germany. His winning portrait of Karel, a homeless man he encountered following a visit to a museum, invites the viewer to contemplate the coexistence of wealth and poverty.
“After being in a museum, I saw a homeless man and was stunned by a similarity: the clothes, the pose, and other details resembled what I just saw in various paintings. However, this time I was looking at a homeless person wrapped in a blanket and not at the painting of a saint or noble in their elaborate garment. By portraying a homeless man in a manner reserved for nobles or saints, I tried to emphasize that everyone deserves respect and care. Human dignity shouldn’t be relative or dependent on socio-economic status,” noted Ganter.
Karel, who tries to earn some money by cleaning car windshields in the artist’s neighborhood, attended five sittings for the portrait. After these, in which the head and the hands were painted, Ganter used a life-size doll, and painted the clothes and the blanket before finally adding the artificial flower at the bottom right.
Ignacio Estudillo Pérez, 28, is the winner of the BP Young Artist Award for a portrait of his mother, Juana, a hospital worker in the family’s hometown of Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. Pérez now lives in Malaga after studying at the School of Arts and Crafts in Jerez de la Frontera and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes of Seville while also attending art classes with Spanish realist painter Antonio López García.
Painting in oils, Estudillo took two and a half years to complete the work, a lengthy process that required numerous sittings in the artist’s living room. After abandoning an earlier effort that he felt failed to capture his mother’s spirit, he switched to a “less forced pose, showing a direct relationship between us” and experimented with several differently colored backgrounds before choosing a “disagreeable white, rather than a white of purity.” In 2012, the Spanish artist received second prize in the BP Portrait Award for a study of his grandfather.
As part of Operation Crash, federal agents raided a New York apartment and seized four black rhinoceros mounts, three of which did not have horns and one that had fake horns attached. Photo courtesy of United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York.
PLANO, Texas – Ning Qiu, a resident of Frisco, Texas, and an appraiser of Asian art, pleaded guilty on June 24 in federal court to participating in an illegal wildlife smuggling conspiracy in which rhinoceros horns and objects made from rhino horn and elephant ivory worth nearly $1 million were smuggled from the United States to China.
The guilty plea was announced by Sam Hirsch, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, John Malcolm Bales, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, and Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Qiu, 43, who has worked as an Asian antique appraiser for seven years, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Don D. Bush in Plano, Texas, to a one count information charging him with conspiracy to smuggle and violate the Lacey Act.
Qiu was identified as part of “Operation Crash” – a nationwide effort led by the USFWS and the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute those involved in the black market trade of rhinoceros horns and other protected species.
According to documents filed in federal court, Qiu admitted to acting as one of the three antique dealers in the United States paid by Zhifei Li, the admitted “boss” of the conspiracy, to help obtain wildlife items and smuggle them to Li via Hong Kong. Li was sentenced on May 27, 2014, in federal district court in Newark, New Jersey, to serve 70 months in prison for his leadership role in the smuggling conspiracy. Li arranged financing, negotiated the price and paid for rhino horn and elephant ivory. He also gave instructions on how to smuggle the items out of the United States and obtained the assistance of additional collaborators in Hong Kong to receive the smuggled goods and then smuggle them to him in mainland China.
“This is yet another step toward dismantling a sophisticated and global network of criminals whose greed is driving endangered animals to extinction,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Hirsch. “We will continue to investigate and bring to justice those involved in the illicit trade of the world’s wildlife and will work with our international partners to battle the poaching, corruption, and transnational crime that goes along with it.”
“I am pleased that the Eastern District of Texas could be a part of the ‘Operation Crash’ investigation as well as the guilty plea today, and I congratulate the investigative team for a job well done,” said U.S. Attorney Bales. “The criminal activity undertaken by the defendant in this case is a stark reminder that this matter is not about serving Asian cultural and medicinal practices; it’s about greed, organized crime and the depletion of a species that – without our focused efforts to fight this trade – may not be around for our children to see.”
“This guilty plea by another participant in one of the largest criminal trafficking rings we’ve ever investigated – as well as the unprecedented jail time given to the rings’ leader last month – serves notice to other poachers and smugglers that we are clamping down hard on those who break international wildlife laws,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Ashe. “Working with the Department of Justice and other federal and international law enforcement agencies, we will continue to relentlessly pursue criminals whose greed and indifference to life are fueling the continued slaughter of rhinos and other vulnerable species in the wild.”
The rhinoceros is an herbivorous species of prehistoric origin and one of the largest remaining mega-fauna on earth. They have no known predators other than humans. All species of rhinoceros are protected under U.S. and international law. Since 1976, trade in rhinoceros horn has been regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty signed by more than 170 countries around the world to protect fish, wildlife and plants that are or may become imperiled due to the demands of international markets.
In pleading guilty, Qiu admitted that he worked at an auction house in Dallas as an appraiser of Asian artwork and antiques, specializing in carvings made from rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory. Qiu admitted to meeting Li in 2009 through his work at the auction house, and then entering into a conspiracy with Li whereby Qiu traveled throughout the U.S. to purchase raw and carved rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory for Li, often receiving specific instructions from Li on which items to buy and how much to pay. Upon purchasing the items, Li transferred funds directly into Qiu’s bank accounts in the U.S. and China. After acquiring the items for Li, Qiu arranged for them to be smuggled to a location in Hong Kong, which was provided by Li.
As part of his plea, Li admitted that he sold raw rhinoceros horns worth approximately $3 million – approximately $17,500 per pound – to factories in China where the horns are carved into fake antiques known as zuo jiu (which means “to make it as old” in Mandarin). In China, there is a centuries-old tradition of drinking from intricately carved “libation cups” made from rhinoceros horn. Owning or drinking from such a cup is believed by some to bring good health, and true antiques are highly prized by collectors. The escalating value of such items has resulted in an increased demand for rhinoceros horn that has helped fuel a thriving black market, including recently carved fake antiques. The leftover pieces from the carving process were sold for alleged “medicinal” purposes even though rhino horn is made of compressed keratin, the same material in human hair and nails and has no proven medical value.
Between 2009 and 2013, Qiu purchased and smuggled to Hong Kong at least five raw rhinoceros horns weighing at least 20 pounds. Qiu smuggled the raw rhino horns by first wrapping them in duct tape, hiding them in porcelain vases and falsely describing them on customs and shipping documents, including by labeling them as porcelain vases or handicrafts.
As part of the plea agreement, having considered Qiu’s cooperation and assistance in securing a conviction for Li, the government agrees to recommend to the sentencing judge that Qiu serve a 25-month prison sentence and pay a $150,000 fine. Sentencing will be before District Court Judge Richard Schell on a date to be determined by the court.
The investigation is continuing and is being handled by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Noble of the Eastern District of Texas and Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division.
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As part of Operation Crash, federal agents raided a New York apartment and seized four black rhinoceros mounts, three of which did not have horns and one that had fake horns attached. Photo courtesy of United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York.
Doorway to the Smithsonian ‘castle,’ the institution’s headquarters and first building. Photo by David Bjorgen, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. WASHINGTON (AP) – Smithsonian officials say visitation is down at the museum complex this year due to the government shutdown and closures due to winter weather.
Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough said Monday that visitation is down by about 2 million visitors since the fiscal year began Oct. 1, 2013. He says about half of the decline is due to the federal government shutdown last October.
Clough says visitor numbers are also down for the 2014 calendar year. He says that’s because there were fewer visitors during the winter months. The federal government was closed several days due to snow.
Clough says visitor numbers have rebounded to normal levels in the spring and early summer tourism season this year.
Last year, the Smithsonian counted about 30 million visits to its museums.
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Doorway to the Smithsonian ‘castle,’ the institution’s headquarters and first building. Photo by David Bjorgen, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Joseph C. Wright also won an Oscar for the 1942 wartime film ‘This Above All.’ Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com archive. EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (AP) – A rare auction of an Oscar statuette brought a total of $79,200, well more than expected, at its sale Monday by a Rhode Island auction house.
Nanci Thompson of Briarbrook Auctions said the total included a 20 percent buyer’s premium for the 1942 Oscar. She declined to disclose the name of the buyer, but said “you would recognize the name.”
The auctioneer had estimated the golden statuette would sell for $5,000 to $30,000.
The statue was awarded to Joseph C. Wright at the 15th Academy Awards for color art direction for his work on My Gal Sal, starring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature.
Prior to the auction, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was investigating the sale of the statuette. Since 1950, the academy has prohibited Oscar recipients and their heirs from selling the statues without first offering them back to the academy for $1. But the auction house said the restriction does not apply because the Oscar was awarded before 1950.
Wright died in 1985, and his nephew inherited the statue. It weighs around 6 pounds and is 13 inches high. The auctioneer said it is in good condition, with just a little wear at the back.
Wright received 12 Academy Award nominations and won twice, both in 1942 and both shared with Richard Day. The other award was for black-and-white art direction for This Above All, starring Tyrone Power and Joan Fontaine.
Wright also was nominated for his work on movies including Days of Wine and Roses, Guys and Dolls and the Man With the Golden Arm.
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Joseph C. Wright also won an Oscar for the 1942 wartime film ‘This Above All.’ Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com archive.
19th-century Meissen ewer depicting ‘Air.’ 26in high. Estimate $13,000-$15,000. Starting bid $10. No reserve. Don Presley Auctions image SANTA ANA, Calif. – Don Presley Auction has been commissioned to liquidate the entire contents of an elite antique store in Beverly Hills. Everything will be auctioned on Sunday, June 29th at Presley’s Santa Ana gallery, with a 12 noon PST (3 p.m. Eastern) start time. There will be no minimums or reserves on the approximately 500 lots of store antiques, and Internet live bidding will be available worldwide through LiveAuctioneers.
“This will be a true no-reserve auction, with no cherry-picking ahead of time,” said Don Presley, who will preside over the event. “We will be selling the million-dollar, wall-to-wall inventory of one of Beverly Hills’ finest antique shops, and each item will sell to the highest bidder, regardless of the amount. If the highest bid is $10, then that’s what the item will sell for.”
Presley said the owner of the store, who is his personal friend, is shutting the doors to his business “so he can retire and enjoy life.” He stressed that the auction has not been precipitated by a bankruptcy or forced liquidation.
“It’s quite the opposite. This is simply a case where an owner who has had a wonderful time in the high-end antiques business has decided it’s time to call it a day. The store will not reopen. He is shutting the doors forever.”
Presley said the auction presents a very rare opportunity to bid on premier antiques and collectibles with the final price determined solely by the bidders, regardless of cost or loss to the consignor.
“Never in my 47 years in the auction world have I had the pleasure of selling this kind of inventory without reserve prices, nor have I even heard of an auction such as this one. For example, there’s a $10,000 KPM plaque in the auction inventory. The owner told me, “Don, if it only brings a dollar, sell it! If it doesn’t sell, don’t bring it back.”
Also included in this auction are beautiful estate pieces from some of Southern California’s most exclusive neighborhoods, including Newport Beach. The goods include: quality furniture, clocks, fine artwork, a monumental Baccarat chandelier, bronzes, sterling, Tiffany, enameled silver objects, KPM, Sevres, Galle, Lalique, Meissen, Limoges, Dresden, Daum Nancy, Amphora, a 19th-century Tiffany grandfather clock, porcelains, pottery, crystal, china, Asian items, jade, coins, jewelry and watches; and much more (Note: a few items from this auxiliary 150-lot grouping will have a reserve.)
Bid live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers. For additional information on any item in the sale, call Don Presley Auction at 714-633-2430 or email info@donpresley.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
19th-century Meissen ewer depicting ‘Air.’ 26in high. Estimate $13,000-$15,000. Starting bid $10. No reserve. Don Presley Auctions image
19th-century Berlin KPM plaque, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2in (sight). Estimate $10,000-$15,000. Starting bid $10. No reserve. Don Presley Auctions image
Magnificent monumental 24-light turn of the 20th century Baccarat crystal chandelier. Measures 55in high, 36in diameter. Estimate $20,000-$30,000. No reserve. Don Presley Auctions image
Midland County Courthouse in downtown, Midland, Mich. Built in 1925, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Image by Calvin Beale, courtesy of Wikimedia, Commons.
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) – Officials say some artwork on display in downtown Midland as part of an annual sculpture series has been vandalized.
The Midland Daily News reports police are seeking tips after damage to the works for the 2014 Pondering Downtown Summer Sculpture Series.
Surveillance images also are expected to help police.
A piece called Below the Surface, showing a sailboat on water, was vandalized June 17 to 18. The sailboat was torn from its base. Meanwhile, a portion of a sculpture called Loon Magic on Golden Pond featuring mother and baby loons was stolen between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.
The city’s Community Affairs Director Selina Tisdale says it’s “disappointing that a few senseless acts can ruin a fun community event for everyone.”
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Midland County Courthouse in downtown, Midland, Mich. Built in 1925, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Image by Calvin Beale, courtesy of Wikimedia, Commons.
The contemporary artist’s oversized toylike sculptures of a dog, gorilla, Popeye and other works spanning a three-decade career will fill nearly the entire museum from June 27 through Oct. 19.
“Jeff Koons: A Retrospective” is the most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work – and the Whitney’s final show at its Madison Avenue location before moving downtown to a Renzo Piano-designed building in 2015.
Koons is arguably one of the most popular living artists today. Last year, he became the most expensive living artist, too, when his Balloon Dog (Orange) sold for $58.4 million at auction.
“From tchotchkes and kitsch objects to working with pop stars like Lady Gaga on her recent album cover, he’s a rare artist who’s managed to find a broad audience,” said Scott Rothkopf, a Koons expert and curator of the exhibit.
The show’s planning and installation, four years in the making, has been a herculean task for the museum. For the first time, it had to remove the front doors and find creative ways for getting the monumental pieces to upper galleries.
His objects “are quite complicated to install in terms of their rigging and how they can be handled,” Rothkopf said. “They’re heavy, they’re big. They have very fragile surfaces that can crack or chip.”
He added: “In terms of weight, size and delicacy, all together they create a trifecta.”
The museum created full-scale models of some objects to test how they would fit in the elevators. It made videos, 3-D renderings and small models to test clearances. It worked with engineering firms, riggers, Koons’ own team and the objects’ fabricators. The sculpture court pavers were re-enforced to take the weight of two never-before-seen black granite pieces: a woman reclining in a tub and Popeye planted with live flowers.
“It seems like an appropriate age to have a retrospective on this scale,” Koons, 59, said in an interview. “I was able to develop more work and execute ideas that I wanted to realize.”
His eight children have been an inspiration, he said, adding that his work is about “embracing the things that we love and enjoy” and bringing “a time and memory” from youth “when we were open to everything.”
The exhibition is a survey of his work from 1978 to the present, with the aluminum-cast 10-foot-high Play-Doh and a re-creation of the Liberty Bell among several new works completed just days before the show’s opening.
Among the exhibition’s 120 works are a Mylar-like balloon dog of polished steel and a gold ceramic Michael Jackson with his pet chimpanzee Bubbles. Early works include vitrine-encased vacuum cleaners and basketballs suspended in water tanks.
But his work is not without controversy. In 1990, he created a stir with his “Made in Heaven” series of paintings and sculptures depicting explicit sexual poses with his then-wife, the Italian porn star and politician Ilona Staller, aka La Cicciolina. They’re being shown in a gallery with a parental warning.
The exhibition will travel to the Pompidou Centre in Paris in November and to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, in summer 2015.
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
