Banksy (B. 1975)Bomb Love 2002 tagged on the turnover edgespray paint on canvas25.4 by 20.3 cm.10 by 8 in.This work was executed in 2002. Footnotes:This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Pest Control Office.ProvenanceSanta's Ghetto, LondonSimon Finch, London Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2004Bomb Love is pure Banksy: provocative, bitingly satirical and yet tender. Always a vicious opponent of mass media and casual consumerism the sense that today's youth are being sold aggression instead of innocence, war instead of play explodes from the canvas in a flash of bubble-gum pink. The little girl sporting a ponytail tightly hugs onto the cumbersome military weapon as if it were her favourite cuddly toy and this is redolent of his Girl and Balloon in its whimsicality, and Kids on Guns in its wistful agony. All three images are stone cold classics by the artist coming from the zenith of the artist's most celebrated period. The image that first appeared as a black-and-white stencil on the streets of East London in 2001 has since become an iconic Banksy motif which is highly sought after by collectors. Executed on canvas and tagged with the artist's distinctive signature, Bomb Love from 2002 is executed onto a rosy base colour reminiscent of infanthood that enhances the motif and gives the work itself an innocent and naïve quality. Bomb Love is fresh to the market and whilst the artist later executed a print version of the popular subject, works on canvas from the series are rare at auction with the last comparable work having been offered over a decade ago. Banksy's works intend to shock, yet they also aim to engender thought-provoking discourse through their simple visual elements. The proximity of someone so vulnerable, yet so close to danger, is undoubtedly compelling, and through Banksy's clever dichotomy, the artist is sending a message of optimism to the universe, with the aspiration that one day love will overcome war. The image appeared in his autobiographical book Wall and Piece, alongside the caption 'I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in – like peace and justice and freedom' (the artist in: Wall and Piece, London 2005, p. 29). Bomb Love is charged with a veiled anti-war sentiment and through his rendering, Banksy is tackling international concerns, and critiquing the government and the media for the rose-tinted glasses worn during periods of brutal warfare.This evident juxtaposition of the fragilities of childhood, closely intertwined with the atrocities of war, is an ironic combination of subject matters common in Banksy's Street art. The depiction of a young child heightens the emotions of love, loss, and hope and there is seemingly an appetite amongst collectors for this powerful motif of lost innocence. Earlier in 2021 an original of Girl with Ice Cream on Palette from 2004 sold for £1,100,000 in Bonhams' Post-War and Contemporary sale in London. The artist's empathetic and consistent dialogue within a contemporary global crisis is to be admired and there is an attractive irony to Banksy's compassion. The hybrid street artist and social activist rose to prominence in the 1990s as a graffiti maverick, rejecting any form of government control. Banksy's close encounters with the police in his early years led him to adopt his signature stencils; spraying onto a ready-made template allowed the artist to execute his works quickly, whilst sheltering behind his concealed identity. According to Banksy, 'all graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They've been used to start revolutions and to stop wars' (the artist in: Tristan Manco, Stencil Graffiti, London 2002). Despite the use of stencilling by other notorious street rebels, such as Blek le Rat and Shepard Fairey, Banksy has placed himself in a category of his own and has superseded any expectation of graffiti subculture's success. His outlaw status and anti-establishment street art are the essence of his prolific career and practice. He is perhaps the most important artist to emerge in Britain since the turn of the millennium and this signature work can be seen as a signature example of the artist at his very best.Banksy's ever-growing popularity is testament to his remarkable ability to react and adapt to the contemporary art market, and the world at large. He repeatedly appears in the public eye, and in August 2021 the artist was recognised for the undertaking of his A Great British Spraycation, in which he installed several graffiti pieces across the English coastline, bringing joy and whimsy to local neighbourhoods. He continues to construct his own narrative, and his decision to stay anonymous despite his international attention, makes Banksy an intoxicating enigma.Executed in 2002, Bomb Love is a prime model of Banksy's enduring anti-war art of the last two decades, and in keeping with the context of the sale, the work will be accompanied alongside another highly evocative Banksy piece from the same year, Rude Copper.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
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Jaume Plensa (B. 1955)SHADOWS I 2006 stainless steel and stone 242 by 192 by 196 cm. 95 1/4 by 75 9/16 by 77 3/16 in. This work was executed in 2006, and is unique.Footnotes:ProvenancePrivate Collection, US (acquired from the artist)Selling exhibition: Sotheby's, Windermere, Sotheby's at Isleworth: Monumental, 2007 Acquired directly from the above by the present ownerTowering at nearly eight feet tall with arresting presence SHADOWS I, executed in 2006, is a stunning example of Spanish artist Jaume Plensa's text-based sculptures that transform the environments they inhabit.Born in Barcelona, Plensa is renowned for his large sculptures and public installations, which are widely exhibited across the globe with celebrated projects in cities such as Calgary, Chicago, San Diego, Montréal, London, Paris, Dubai, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Installations of his monumental sculptures can be seen in public spaces at the Rockefeller Centre and 30 Hudson Yards in New York City, the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City and Plaza de Colón in Madrid. Over the past 35 years, the artist has produced a multifaceted body of work creating sculpture that speaks to the power and beauty of humanity, bringing people together and enriching communities through their presence. He works with conventional sculptural materials like glass, steel, and bronze but has also gone further to blend this with unconventional media such as water, light and sound to create hybrid works of intricate energy and symbolic richness. Composed of stainless-steel letters that are weaved together in a linguistic fluid form, this present work is an elegant personification of Plensa's sculptures that are so definitive of the artist's oeuvre. Here, a figure sits upon a stone plinth with its arms clasped around its legs in what appears to be a meditative and serene posture, suggesting a sense of tranquillity and peace. Despite its striking originality, we are encouraged to see parallels to the figures we identify in classical sculpture, in its concern with aesthetic beauty and earnest examination of the human soul in the most simplified form. This figure bears no expression, no facial features or the complexities of human existence. Rather than a straightforward portrait, Plensa plays with proportions thus giving instead a sense of spirituality to his faces, as he examines the relationship between body and soul. Plensa's sculptures are unique in their remarkable ability to transform the environments which they inhabit. This present lot invites a dialogue between the sculpture and the surrounding landscape which is readily visible through the interlaced letters that comprise the figure. The sculpture exists in harmony within its setting and transforms the space around it, most notably in the way in which the open and closed form of the letters alter light and shadow. This subject of transparency was of great allure to Plensa; he was intrigued with how he could bring light and its related openness to metal and found he could achieve this through this use of open weave, lattice like letters. Plensa's work explores not only the human form, but also the role of language in the human experience. An avid reader, Plensa was fascinated with language and classical literature; he has a particular interest in the workings of Shakespeare, William Blake and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe regarding their texts as some of his main sources of inspiration. For Plensa, a language and its calligraphy, or alphabet, provided a portrait of cultures, and through the process of incorporating letters together, but without specific meaning, sought to provide a positive metaphor of our world today. He avoids any negative connotation in his work, and instead expresses messages of hope, beauty and unity, he seeks to portray feelings of unanimity despite the conventional barriers that separate humankind. He believed poetry, which for him was a far greater influence than the visual arts, to be a universal language with the capacity to bring humanity together; and has expressed his utopian vision of a world without boundaries. As the artist himself noted, 'One letter alone is nothing, but together with other letters you get a word. A word with a word becomes a text, and so on. A person alone is nothing, but together with others we become family, a neighbourhood, a city, a county, a country.' (The artist in an interview with Ginny Van Alyea, 'An Interview with Artist Jaume Plensa', Chicago Gallery News Online, 8 November 2017).The present work was acquired by the prominent American collector and philanthropist Gerard L. Cafesjian. Born in 1925 in Brooklyn to Armenian immigrant parents, Mr. Cafesjian became a highly successful editor at West Publishing - a firm specialising in legal materials - and spearheaded the launch of the annual 'Art and the Law' exhibition, for which he received the prestigious Business in the Arts Award. Mr. Cafesjian's passion for collecting began with a childhood fascination with geology and gemstones, which later branched into fine art. Over the years, he patroned and developed personal relationships with world-renowned sculptors and ultimately assembled an impressive collection of both lapidary and fine works of art.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * AR TP* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.TP Lot will be moved to an offsite storage location (Cadogan Tate, Auction House Services, 241 Acton Lane, London NW10 7NP, UK) and will only be available for collection from this location at the date stated in the catalogue. Please note transfer and storage charges will apply to any lots not collected after 14 calendar days from the auction date.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
CORNWALL INTEREST. 'England's Riviera: The Land's End District and its Antiquities,' by J. Harris Stone, rebound with original clith boards, Kegan Paul Trench Trubner & Co, London, 1912; 'Granite Crosses of West Cornwall,' by Laura Rowe, clipped dj, Bradford Barton, Truro, 1973; 'Even in this Place: 19th Century Nonconformists & Life in Th Borough of Penzace,' by John Horner, first edition, Patten Press, 2010; 'The Minack open-air Theatre.' edited by Averil Demuth, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1968; With numerous books and pamphlets regarding Cornwall. Dr Rob Senior arrived in West Cornwall from his native Yorkshire in the early 1960’s where he took up his vocation as a young GP and served the local community for 40 years. At the age of 12, Rob bought a book on Cacti. It was his first book, and established the twin passions of his life, books and plants. His library is a fabulous, eclectic collection of books, largely on plants and horticulture, but also nature and many other subjects, all brought together by a man with a curious and inquisitive mind. Condition: please request a condition report if you require additional information regarding the condition of this lot Postage: £45 Please note that the postage quote is an estimate of the amount that we would charge to send the item to a buyer in the UK. If you are outside of the UK, or there is no estimate shown here, please contact postage@davidlay.co.uk for a bespoke quote.
'The Aerial Atlas of Ancient Crete.' Original boards, large format, colour photos throughout, University of California Press, 1992, vg; 'The Historical Atlas of the Bible,' by DR IAN BARNES, original cloth, unclipped dj, colour maps and pictures throughout, Cartographica, 2006, fine; With two other books on Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture in Yorkshire and Rievaulx Abbey, also in Yorkshire. (4) Dr Rob Senior arrived in West Cornwall from his native Yorkshire in the early 1960’s where he took up his vocation as a young GP and served the local community for 40 years. At the age of 12, Rob bought a book on Cacti. It was his first book, and established the twin passions of his life, books and plants. His library is a fabulous, eclectic collection of books, largely on plants and horticulture, but also nature and many other subjects, all brought together by a man with a curious and inquisitive mind. Condition: please request a condition report if you require additional information regarding the condition of this lot Postage: £35 Please note that the postage quote is an estimate of the amount that we would charge to send the item to a buyer in the UK. If you are outside of the UK, or there is no estimate shown here, please contact postage@davidlay.co.uk for a bespoke quote.
SEAMUS HEANEY. 'Human Chain.' First edition, unclipped dj, Faber & Faber, 2010; RICHARD MURPHY. 'The Battle of Aughrim and The God Who Eats Corn.' First edition, unclipped dj, Faber & Faber, 1968; 'The Price of Stone,' limpback, Faber & Faber, 1985; 'High Island,' first edition, limpback (never pub in hardback), Faber & Faber, 1974; PAUL MULDOON. 'Selected Poems 1968-83.' First edition, unclipped dj, Faber & Faber, 1986; With four otherMuldoon's, two Michael Longley's, and three other poetry books. (14) Condition: please request a condition report if you require additional information regarding the condition of this lot Postage: £35 Please note that the postage quote is an estimate of the amount that we would charge to send the item to a buyer in the UK. If you are outside of the UK, or there is no estimate shown here, please contact postage@davidlay.co.uk for a bespoke quote.
Royal Crown Derby Imari pattern (1128 plate) D27cm, smaller plate D21.5cm, pair of plates D18cm, masons iron stone plate D23cm, Victorian Jack field cow creamer with gilt highlights H12cm, two Ansley part cabinet tea services decorated with fruit (one cup A/F)and George V shelly coronation beaker
Gilt metal oval mourning brooch with carnelian beads individually pinned around a large mounted stone, an unmarked silver bar brooch with tear drop turquoise stones set in circular mount, a pair of drop pendant earrings with pierced silver metal mount and a collection of other costume jewellery
Hallmarked sterling silver bangle with blue stone mounted on hook clasp, Birmingham, 1983, a hallmarked Sterling silver leaf brooch with etched detail and central white stone John Reading & Sons, Birmingham, 1888 and a collection of other Sterling silver bar brooches and a silver ring with pierced mounted blue pearl shank stamped Silver gross 1.3ozt
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398886 item(s)/page