Jenny Holzer | Let your hand wander on flesh to make possibility multiply

Jenny Holzer
Let your hand wander on flesh to make possibility multiply
New York City, USA: Self-published, 2006
43.2 x 58.4 x 40.0 cm
Edition of 10 numbered copies

Danby Imperial white marble carved with a lesser known text from the Survival Series, using ‘Government style’ font, which was designed by the United States Department of War in the 1930s and remains in use today for all Veterans’ Administration headstones.

Schwarzkogler 3 Aktion wien sommer 1965

Rudolf Schwarzkogler
Schwarzkogler 3 Aktion wien sommer 1965
Innsbruck, Austrai: Galerie Krinzinger, 1975
13 photographs, 30 x 40 cm., boxed
Edition of 40 [+ 10 AP]

Like most of Schwarzkogler’s Actions this series was photographed by Ludwig Hoffenreich and printed posthumously. Schwarzkogler’s partner, Edith Adam, and Hoffenreich followed the artist’s detailed instructions to determine the cropping of the print from its original square format. The thirteen photographed flush-mounted to cards are stamped and signed in ink by Adam.

The box also contains a facsimile reprint of the artist's notebook (Notizbuch 5) which is also signed and numbered in felt tip pen by Adam.

An artist proof was auctioned in 2014 with an estimated price of €4.000 - €5.000 and sold for €8.060.

Richard Prince | Spiritual America

Richard Prince
Spiritual America
New York City, USA/Valencia, Spain: Aperture/IVAM, 1990
136 pp., 28.6 x 19.5 cm., softcover
Edition size unknown

Published in conjunction with the artist's 1989 exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art in Valencia, Spain, Spiritual America is one of the first comprehensive publications on the artist. It is illustrated with over 200 colour images and includes a preface by Corinne Diserens and Vincent Todoli, and an interview with Prince by author J.G. Ballard. The title also includes an exhibition checklist, bibliography and exhibition history.

Ruth Francken and Bernard Heidsieck | Partition V

Ruth Francken and Bernard Heidsieck
Partition V 
Paris, France: Le Soleil Noir, 1973
149 pp., 34.3 x 32.7 x 7.6 cm., 6 33rpm records
Edition of 75+250+875

An aluminum and Plexiglas sculpture which houses a softcover book containing six vinyl discs, which contain:

Partition V, Poème-Partition, Livre-objet de Ruth Francken.
Partition V, Poème-partition, sides A and B;
Side A: Poème-Partition B2 B3, le 4ème Plan. Side B: La Pénétration, La Convention Collective.
Side A: La Cage, La Mer est Grosse, Quel Age Avez-Vous? Side B: Bilan ou Mâcher Ses Mots.
La Semaine, passe-partout n°5, Sides A and B.
Ruth Francken a Téléphoné, passe-partout n°8, sides A and B.

A copy recently sold at auction for $625 US, about half less than the mid-point estimated value of between $1,000 - $1,500.

Henri Chopin | Portrait of Franco

Henri Chopin
Portrait of Franco
Berlin/Koln, Germany: Edition Hundertmark, 1975
9.5x7x2.4 cm.
Edition of 6 signed and dated copies

Cary Leibowitz | GAIN! WAIT! NOW!

Cary Leibowitz

GAIN! WAIT! NOW!

New York City, USA: Self-published, 2001
49.8 × 25.8 cm.
Signed and numbered edition

Produced for an exhibition at the Andrew Kreps gallery in 2001, this printed metal can features an image of the artist at his Bar Mitzvah, circa 1976. On the verso is the title phrase in a pink and yellow western/circus typeface.

In his review of the exhibition for the New York Times, Holland Cotter wrote:

"Questions about appearance and identity are a running gag. Dozens of cylindrical metal umbrella stands -- also identified as garbage cans -- at the center of the gallery are decorated with a bar mitzvah photograph of Mr. Leibowitz looking plump, stunned and very 1970's in a bulky all-white suit. [...] Being perpetually out of step is a career move that makes [Leibowitz] an artist for all seasons."

Leibowitz has explained the work as an "hourly mantra to survive adolescence and start [his] fabulous life" and “The cans with the picture of Fatso also have the text GAIN! WAIT! NOW!, which is very much in keeping with my longstanding history of wanting/needing/hoping/praying for things to improve in my own impatient way.”

The end-use of the work dictated the price: the cans initially sold for $50 if the buyer requested a garbage can, but $52 if they asked to purchase an umbrella stand. The following year some were made into lamps. 

The work is available now for $175 US, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, where the retrospective exhibition Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show (pictured above) closes today. 

The Bill Burns Show (Part 3)

The third and final iteration of the The Bill Burns Show at MKG127 closes today. For more information, visit the gallery website, here.

Jenny Holzer | With all the holes in you already, ...

Jenny Holzer
With all the holes in you already, ...
New York City, USA: Edition Barbara Gladstone Gallery, [c1983/85]

15.7 x 28 cm.

Edition of 10

Aluminium cast sign from the Survival Series.

Günther Uecker | Kite

Günther Uecker
Kite
Germany: Self-published, 1967
117 x 83 cm.
Edition of 100 signed and dated copies

A self-portrait as a kite by the Zero Group member best known for his work with nails. The Serigraph on transparent PVC-foil, stretched on wooden struts is valued at approximately $1000 US.

Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show

Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show at the Contemporary Jewish Museum closes this Sunday, June 25th. The exhibition is the first comprehensive career survey and solo museum exhibition devoted to Leibowitz, who once (and sometimes still) uses the alias Candyass. I kick myself for missing it, but I will be there in February 2018, when the show travels to Philadelphia. 

For more information, visit the gallery website, here. Or read Wallpaper's review "Pathetic aesthetic: Cary Leibowitz’s zingers are more relevant now than ever", here.