Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

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jak88
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by jak88 »

vvk wrote:did someone say drymount?
It seems kinda like that ... attached to a canvas backing instead of foamboard. But clearly it led to damage to the artwork. People are truly baffling what they do with art -- with it's most baffling when it's fine art.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by bsharp »

jak88 wrote:
vvk wrote:did someone say drymount?
It seems kinda like that ... attached to a canvas backing instead of foamboard. But clearly it led to damage to the artwork. People are truly baffling what they do with art -- with it's most baffling when it's fine art.
This is even more egregious given the obvious significance and value of the piece. Not sure what was going on in the mind of the person framing it.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

Shepard's fine art pieces on canvas at the time were made of paper collage, adhered to the canvas, and then layered with sprayed stencil work.

Same timeframe: http://thegiant.org/wiki/index.php/Mari ... vas_Unique
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by bsharp »

All the canvas collage stuff is done that way through to today. Collaging paper onto the canvas seems perfectly fine. The difference here is that this was a collage on paper piece that was itself adhered to canvas.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

Well if that's really the case, that's just dumb.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by bsharp »

admonkey wrote:Well if that's really the case, that's just dumb.
Yup. I believe this edition of 3 was only on paper, and no canvas edition. This is fine art dry mounting. Kind of a shame for such a significant work.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by Gigantico »

Looks like they maybe preferred the canvas wood frame look? Very odd indeed, here's the 600k one.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction ... obama-hope

edit: Happy 15th forum birthday to me. galdurn time flies.

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Last edited by Gigantico on Sun Apr 03, 2022 6:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

Well something wonky is certainly going on. Each of the three is unique in the collage and stencil elements, and the quickest "read" on which is which is to look to the left of Obama's right ear (viewer's left).

The one found in the Smithsonian has an Obey Star cog stencil there. The Russell Simmons auction one has a photograph from an old newspaper (two cops parading a black man in handcuffs), and the Duality of Humanity exhibition one, which I presume is still owned by Shepard, has floral wallpaper.

The Heritage Auctions site is showing the Smithsonian version, and I'm pretty sure that, unless some Qcumbers raided the wrong building on JAN 6, they don't have that one.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by bsharp »

admonkey wrote:Well something wonky is certainly going on. Each of the three is unique in the collage and stencil elements, and the quickest "read" on which is which is to look to the left of Obama's right ear (viewer's left).

The one found in the Smithsonian has an Obey Star cog stencil there. The Russell Simmons auction one has a photograph from an old newspaper (two cops parading a black man in handcuffs), and the Duality of Humanity exhibition one, which I presume is still owned by Shepard, has floral wallpaper.

The Heritage Auctions site is showing the Smithsonian version, and I'm pretty sure that, unless some Qcumbers raided the wrong building on JAN 6, they don't have that one.
The Smithsonian one is different than the one shown on HA. Both Smithsonian and HA have a star gear in the same general area, but look at the cheeks and around the tie - they're two different works.

Smithsonian:
Image

Heritage (mounted on canvas):
Image

Russell Simmons (600k auction):
Image

Looking further, the DOH one is seemingly different than each of these 3 - easiest to tell by the shirt. So I guess there must be more than 3. And I was mistaken that this one is the one shown @ DOH.

DOH:
Image
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

That would imply four versions.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by Cookie Head »

admonkey wrote:That would imply four versions.
Edition of 3 plus one or two AP's perhaps?
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

Cookie Head wrote:
admonkey wrote:That would imply four versions.
Edition of 3 plus one or two AP's perhaps?
My thinking— completely out of my ar$e, mind you— is, because the two Obey Star cogs are so similar, and one wound up in the Smithsonian, maybe Shepard worked on two of them at the same time and sent the one he thought best suited the National Gallery off to them and kept the other.

Maybe he even experimented himself with mounting the paper version on to canvas just to see what it would look like before sending it off to national fame, and then didn't like the result and sent the other...

All speculation. But the two do resemble each other closely, though...
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by jjttdw »

Any chance it sells for more than $1M?
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by cybernigel »

jjttdw wrote:Any chance it sells for more than $1M?
I'd make a bet that it does not.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by Cookie Head »

cybernigel wrote:
jjttdw wrote:Any chance it sells for more than $1M?
I'd make a bet that it does not.
+1 especially with the condition issues.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by bdavenport »

I'll take the under
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

Estimate is $300-500k. I'll guess it'll be closer to the upper end than the lower.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

It'll be on public display in Chicago prior to the auction, if you want a closer look.

https://news.yahoo.com/iconic-hope-port ... 00889.html
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by jjttdw »

admonkey wrote:It'll be on public display in Chicago prior to the auction, if you want a closer look.

https://news.yahoo.com/iconic-hope-port ... 00889.html
If I win the Powerball....it is mine. I will guess it will exceed the estimate.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by jak88 »

That's an understatement! :D
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

The current bid is $603,000.00 with the buyer's premium included, and it's about 20 minutes away from the opening of the live auction portion.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

Final gavel, with buyer's premium included: $727,000.00

They did mention during the live auction that this was one of three, so more discussion is needed re: #4.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by adambad »

Thats a big number.

Im assuming that the previous sale at Sothebys and the one today at Heritage were from the edition of 3 on paper roughly sized 46x70. I remember being at the DOH show and seeing the Hope and I think it was smaller. Maybe a 30x44? The paper one in the Smithsonian is also approx 46x70.
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Re: Shepard Fairey / Obey Auction Discussion

Post by admonkey »

No, it's described as the same size as the others. If you scroll through the discussion on the previous page, you'll see the mini-investigation conducted into there being three or four versions.

edit: Oh, I see you're talking about the DOH version. I dunno. It looks to be the same as all of the stencils on paper he was doing at the time, IOOW, the same as the others. But that's just my impression from the composition and photo.
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