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Haring

Haring’s fridge door, Warhol’s moose star in Guernsey’s May 12 sale

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Keith Haring’s much-inscribed and drawn-upon fridge door from his SoHo walk-up apartment

Keith Haring’s much-inscribed and drawn-upon fridge door from his SoHo walk-up apartment

NEW YORK – A graffiti-tagged refrigerator door and a mounted moose head are among the unique items belonging to iconic artists Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and Christo that will be sold at Guernsey’s Urban Gems Auction on May 12. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

During his rise to fame in the 1980s, Haring’s walkup apartment in SoHo became the hub of New York City’s art scene. Drenched in a wild array of Haring’s signature images and colors, it was the place to be for superstars, including Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Madonna, and more graffiti artists than could fill a subway car. Haring’s sign-in guest register was his refrigerator door. That door, featuring art and writing from Haring and more than 82 other messages such as “Madonna loves Keith” and “JM” (Jean-Michel) will be sold without reserve.

Moose head once owned by artist Andy Warhol
Moose head once owned by artist Andy Warhol

The sale will also include Andy Warhol’s mounted moose head. Often pictured together, Warhol and the moose head appeared prominently in the New York Times back in 2018. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the moose head will go in support of the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Early precedent to Christo’s 2005 work, ‘The Gates’
Early precedent to Christo’s 2005 work, ‘The Gates’

In February 2005, a saffron-colored wave swept over New York City. The artist known as Christo used Central Park as his palette, creating his now famous 23-mile long exhibition, The Gates, which captivated the hearts of many urbanites. More than two decades earlier, the artist started producing conceptual mixed-media works of art – incorporating actual pieces of the fabric he later used in Central Park – to first present his idea to the world. One of these works, along with Christo’s annotated map of Central Park, is a featured lot in this sale.

Rounding out the auction highlights is a rare 1933 Rolls-Royce Shooting Brake (the British term for “Woodie.”) It is believed that only about 50 of these cars were created and far fewer survive today. Each was uniquely built to a customer’s own design. At the height of his career, Andy Warhol owned one, and earlier in the century, King Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, used his Rolls Royce Shooting Brake to secretly shuttle Wallis Simpson into Balmoral Castle during what some described as the “love affair of the century.”

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