Banksy, Jean Tinguely, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Irving Penn are some of the icons that are represented in Bukowskis upcoming anniversary auction. Their 'Contemporary Art + Design and Important Timepieces' sales offer Swedish and international contemporary art and design, as well as iconic wristwatches.
Here are some of the highlights.
Irving Penn (1917-2009) was an American portrait and fashion photographer who photographed famous artists, such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Marcel Duchamp. He is considered one of the most influential and productive photographers of the 20th century. Penn's oeuvre is characterised by classic elegance and modern minimalism. The photographer donated a large number of works to the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in memory of his wife Lisa Fonssagrives. The photograph Nude 58, which is now offered at Bukowskis, was one of the works that ended up in the museum's collections. In addition to this at auction are Nude, Cuzco Children, and Woman with Roses on Her Arm.
Anonymous artist Banksy is featured with his iconic work Girl with Balloon. The work is based on a stencil painting that appeared on the streets of London in 2002 together with the message "There is always hope." Since then, Banksy has created more versions of the girl with the balloon. Among the most famous are Flying Balloon Girl from 2005 which was painted on a wall in the West Bank in Palestine and Girl with Balloon – Syrian version from 2014 where the girl has a shawl on her head. Banksy's street art brings messages, often provocative, to humanity and it seems that the more he takes a stand, the more popular he becomes.
This is the first time that the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely's Eléments blanc et bleu sur fond noir (White and Blue Elements on Black Background), from 1955, is on the market. At this time, Tinguely was in Sweden, a time when he created several mechanical works. A few years earlier he had moved to Paris during the post-war period when new and radical material was shown. He was a pioneer in mobile sculptures and was noted for his métamatics (machines) made from scrap parts. He exhibited his moving paintings which he called 'vending machines'. They were black-painted boxes with white geometric shapes and in each box there was a hidden electric motor that made the work move. White and Blue Elements on Black Background is a further development from Tinguely's first 'vending machine'.
The American artist and designer Brian Donnelly (1974), better known as Kaws, began his career as a graffiti artist in the 1990s. It was not until 2006 that he started working with the Japanese brand Medicom Toy. Together, they created sculptures that varied in size and material. Some of the characters are Kaws' own and others are reworked versions of existing works.
The catalogue also offers a number of design objects by relevant designers such as Jan Klingler, Fredrik Paulsen, Simon Klenell and Kristoffer Sundin. There are also collectables by Verner Panton and Mario Marenco, as well as Swedish postmodern classics by Thomas Sandell and Mats Theselius.
The world-famous Concrete chair got its name from the original chair that the Swedish designer Jonas Bohlin designed as part of his degree project for Konstfack in 1981. Since then, Concrete has been manufactured by Källemo and is considered a Swedish classic in furniture design.
When the glass artist Hanna Hansdotter graduated from Konstfack in 2017, her degree project Imprint received a lot of attention and was her big breakthrough. The title of the work reveals Hansdotter's aesthetics, which is characterised by organic patterns and shows the imprints that have been created thanks to her approach. With glass as a material, her work takes on a completely new meaning and the glass loses its hardness and instead becomes soft and undulating. The sculpture Stucco print shown here is from 2019 and was manufactured at Boda Glasbruk.
Bukowskis' catalogue also offers an impressive mix of wristwatches from the most sought-after watch manufacturers such as Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Omega and Heuer.
