Provenance
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Catalogue Essay
Categorized as an appropriation artist – a label not favoured by the artist – Kelley Walker creates works that focus on notions of circulation, signification, and sampling. These methods of democratic distribution are more clearly visible in the way Walker distributes his work rather than in the composition of his medium, as he often sells his work digitally so that buyers can edit or alter them however they choose. As a result, Walker is fully immersed in popular culture in its most current sense. He, of course, owes much of his methodology to earlier Pop artists, specifically Andy Warhol, but he moves beyond Warhol’s appropriation of popular culture imagery by allowing his works to be transmitted digitally. This digital distribution transcends earlier attempts at art for the masses by working alongside and in response to public opinion; as the artist says, “sometimes I’ll present a work to the public and listen to the responses – then pull it back, shape it, and put it back out” (in an interview with Christopher Bollen, Interview Magazine, n.d.). The current lot is a silkscreen print on canvas featuring perpendicular bricks laid over found images from contemporary visual culture. Walker plays with the concept of mixed media in order to comment on the transitory nature of popular culture, in which its consumers soon forget whatever is current as soon as something new and more exciting appears. In this sense, this work directly calls upon the dichotomy of the obsession with exploring the past and the desire to create something completely new and of the present. In terms of Walker’s overall approach, perhaps his real intention is to interact and edit his work based on the public response, a refusal to become covered up and dated by the onward march of modernity.

11

Kelley Walker

Untitled

2008
Four-colour process silkscreen on canvas with Royals magazine.
121.9 × 73.7 cm (48 × 29 in).
Signed and dated ‘K Walker 2008’ on the reverse. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Estimate
£50,000 - 70,000

Sold for £145,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

27 June
London

1
Urs Fischer
Oh, Sad, I See
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000
Sold for £145,250
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2
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £145,250
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3
Glenn Ligon
Stranger in the Village #8
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000
Sold for £253,250
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4
Ugo Rondinone
Get up girl a sun is running the world
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
Sold for £541,250
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5
This lot is no longer available.
6
Urs Fischer
Thank You Fuck You
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £657,250
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7
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £205,250
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8
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Self-Portrait
Estimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡
Sold for £2,057,250
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9
Beatriz Milhazes
O Moderno
Estimate £650,000 - 750,000 ♠
Sold for £713,250
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10
Tony Cragg
The Fanatics
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
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11
Kelley Walker
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £145,250
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12
Sean Scully
Small Horizontal Robe
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £253,250
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13
Ilya Kabakov
A Solemn Painting
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
Sold for £241,250
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14
Cecily Brown
I Will Not Paint Any More Boring Leaves (2)
Estimate £350,000 - 450,000 ‡♠
Sold for £529,250
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15
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £577,250
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16
Andy Warhol
Mao
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000
Sold for £373,250
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17
Alighiero Boetti
Untitled
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £193,250
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18
Rosemarie Trockel
Untitled (Vogelköpfe)
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £241,250
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19
Beatriz Milhazes
O Conflicto
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
Sold for £181,250
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20
Damien Hirst
Confession
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ♠
Sold for £690,850
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21
Mark Tansey
Library (of Babylon)
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,161,250
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22
Ugo Rondinone
11.September 2008
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £121,250
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23
Peter Fischli and David Weiss
Brush Pot
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000
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24
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £97,250
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25
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ♠
Sold for £657,250
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26
Victor Vasarely
Binaire FF
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
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27
Andreas Gursky
Heidelberg Ost
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ♠
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28
Heinz Mack
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ♠
Sold for £109,250
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29
Marino Marini
Cavallo
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £421,250
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30
Thomas Struth
Pergamon Museum IV, Berlin
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
Sold for £109,250
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31
Andy Warhol
Muhammad Ali
Estimate £180,000 - 220,000
Sold for £217,250
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32
George Condo
Don Diego
Estimate £180,000 - 220,000
Sold for £205,250
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

27 June London

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

11

Kelley Walker

Untitled

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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27 June
London