greg.org – Page 3 – the making of, by greg allen

Mungo, Auguste, Jasper

The excerpt from Mungo Thompson’s video Time Life, Vol. 5: Sideways Thought (2020-22) that Artforum posted last week is full of Rodin sculptures morphing into each other. It reminds me of the Minotaure-Centaure sculpture Rodin glommed together from parts laying around the studio, which became the secret source of the silhouetted figure in Jasper Johns’ Green Angel works, which was revealed around the same time.

a bronze colored plaster rodin sculpture fragment of a minotaur cradles a plaster fragment of a female human torso from a centaur sculpture in its outstretched arms. the silhouette of this odd hybrid object was used by jasper johns as an unidentified motif in a series of works beginning in the 1990s.

Also, a surprising array of folks have been making videos for Artforum, so I guess we’ve all just moved on, bummer about the genocide.

Ron Perelman Condition Reports

NGL, I had not given much thought to Ron Perelman’s $410 million lawsuit over his five most heavily insured paintings; it just seemed like a scam, and he seemed broke and desperate, which, after years of being an aggressive asshole, kind of tied everything up with a karmic bow, no further inquiry needed.

But then Cultured’s John Vincler posted a court filing of a bonkers condition report on insta for one of Perelman’s two Warhols, 21 Elvises (1962), and I had to know more.

Thankfully, unlike federal court documents, the New York State Supreme Court e-filings are free, and now I have almost 500mb of depositions and exhibits. And I’m surprised even as I type this, to find myself at least a little sympathetic towards Perelman—who just lost, ofc. Perelman had paid exorbitantly for years for extravagant and permissive insurance coverage, including regularly negotiated replacement values for a specific group of artworks. And when a devastating fire and its aftermath affected these works—exposing them to water, heat, violent fluctuations in humidity and climate, and frantic movement—and his conservator scientists filed their findings that though the damage was not immediately visible, the artworks had been damaged, the insurance companies said nope, we’re not paying. So on that transactional front, at least, I think Perelman was wronged.

OK, I’m over it. He can manage, and he keeps or sells the art as he wants. The point here is, check out these wild condition reports. They really do feel dire, until you get into them and find most of the anomalies are by the artist, or old, or fine, and seemingly almost nothing is attributable to the fire. [I know, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but a deluge of data is not evidence, either.]

all-five-654742_2020_AGP_Holdings_Two_LLC_e_EXHIBIT_S_765-edit Download

The full condition reports, with detailed analytical text and scientific findings are filed multiple times for each artwork, including some that were actually damaged or lost. But this first document is a filing with just all five of these condition report diagrams, by Perelman’s conservator Sandra Amman. [They were actually in the filing twice, so I deleted the dupes, because I’m hosting this pdf myself. Similarly, I deleted dupes of the fax sent back and forth in the next one.]

warhol-levene-654742_2020_AGP_Holdings_Two_LLC_TRIAL_DOC_1680-edit Download

The second one is the best of the earlier, hand-drawn condition reports made in 1997 by Joseph Levene. I just love the 21 smiling Elvises, and the amount of inpainting and staining this work had as it entered Perelman’s collection. Partly, this shows, I think, Warhol’s care in touching up his screenprinted paintings. It also shows how this painting, which came from Fred Hughes, had kind of a rough life. Perelman’s guy calls all his works masterpieces, because Perelman only buys masterpieces, but these five paintings—two early Warhols, two early Ruschas, and a Twombly—are fine. Would you run into a burning house to save one? No. But would you carry one out the next morning and load it into the art handler’s truck for triage? We already have that answer.

On The Sounds Steve Roden Created

via I Heart Noise comes a wonderful essay by Stephen Vitiello about his work with Michael Raphael to go through the media and audio archive left behind by artist Steve Roden. Vitiello first presented the project at a CAA panel on sound art methodologies last fall in Chicago.

Roden, who passed away in 2023, left hundreds of recordings ranging back to his earliest punk band days: “Michael focused on organizing digital media onto an 18TB master drive. I began sorting through the physical formats. On each visit to Pasadena, I’d take a box or two home with me, sometimes also having originals shipped. The process was both overwhelming and deeply intimate. The audio and video formats have included DAT tapes, standard and 4-track cassettes, MiniDiscs, CDRs, as well as hi8, VHS and DV videos.”

Rather than non-systematic, the material Vitiello describes feels continuously variable and multi-systematic, and somehow if a piece with Roden’s own history and way of working. This first pass through the material is in preparation, Vitiello explains, for a more comprehensive archival processing, when an institutional home for it is determined. This phase is the sorting and sense-making and memory-stretching for a group of family, friends and collaborators, so that Roden’s work will be preserved and presented to the world as effectively as possible.

a 1999 interferogram of an earthquake event in california is color coded with prismatic grading to track concentric but asymmetrical oval ripples from a point in the upper center of the data field on the left. on the right is a rainbow gradient scale. somehow steve roden and his collaborators turned this data into a score for playing on a children's glockenspiel. via in between noise dot com — interferogram image from Steve Roden’s Ear(th), 2004, via inbetweennoise

Meanwhile, a slow but steady collection of rediscovered or remastered works from Roden’s many years of exhibitions and performances are turning up on Roden’s Bandcamp. The latest, from July 2025, is Ear(th), recordings based on a 1999 earthquake monitor for a 2004 sound/sculptural collaboration with scientists, sculptors, and coders in Pasadena.

Steve Roden: An Archive, An Unreliable Narrator [thekitchen.org via @iheartnoise]

Happy Masterpieces Saved From Ron Perelman’s Burning House Day

a court filing of a nighttime photo of two east hampton fire fighters, both white guys, carrying a joseph beuys blackboard painting out of ron perelman's house, passing under a breezeway, surrounded by greenery, in the aftermath of a fire in sept 2018 — Filing 654742/2020-1866: Firefighters removing Joseph Beuys’s blackboard painting, Chikago (1974), from Ron Perelman’s library on Sept 29, 2018, via NYSSC

On the evening of September 28th and into the dark morning of the 29th, 2018, East Hampton firefighters worked tirelessly to put out a fire in the Georgica Pond home of Ron Perelman. Through their valiant efforts and those of the illiquid billionaire’s minions, most of the most valuable artworks in the house were saved.

a court filing of a photo of a large franz kline abstract painting in black and white, leaning on the doors of ron perelman's home theater in east hampton, the glazing on the painting reflects the beams in the eaves overhanging the building. around and in front of the kline are piles of orange mid century furniture cushions, some lamps, a prouvé chair, and stacks of books and catalogue raisonne, all evacuated from a fire in the main house in sept 2018 — Filing 654742/2020-881: a Franz Kline and a bunch of furniture and books moved out of Ron Perelman’s main house to the eaves of the home theater, 2018, via NYSSC

Well, actually, Joseph Beuys’ 1974 blackboard painting, Chikago, which Perelman had just acquired in 2017, did suffer some water damage. And I can’t figure out what happened to the Franz Kline evacuated to the home’s detached home theater, surrounded by a bunch of Prouvé that, I assume, became part of the nearly $200 million insurance payout for furniture.

a court filing of a 2018 photograph of a cy twombly loops painting, a warhol silkscreen painting of 21 elvis heads, turned on its side, and the edge of a handpainted warhol soup can, leaning against the diamond mullion windows of ron perelman's home theater in east hampton, with a large round polished wood dining table in front of them, all items evacuated from the main house after a fire in sept 2018 — Filing 654742/2020-879: a Twombly and two Warhols safe, sound, and undamaged in any way, in Ron Perelman’s home theater, via NYSSC

But Perelman’s 1971 Twombly, his Warhol Elvis and Soup Can paintings, and his two Ruschas, which were also in the library and dining room, and which were also evacuated to the home theater, survived unscathed. Perelman had been worried, as any good steward of artworks would, of course, that these five significant pieces, which he’d insured for $410 million, well above their market value, might have been damaged or diminished in some way, even invisibly, by the fire, or their association with it. Perelman only “collected masterpieces,” his risk manager testified. And the value of a masterpiece can only be determined by the owner of a similar masterpiece, and “if we have to go and buy it off Steve Wynn’s wall, we’ll pay his asking price.”

And so Perelman suggested that instead of possibly embarrassingly realizing a loss of value, his insurance companies should just pay him $205 million, and—by tautological virtue of remaining in his collection—the artworks would remain masterpieces.

And when his insurance companies insulted them by declining to pay, he sued, putting the integrity of these artworks to the courts to decide.

And last week, a NY State Supreme Court judge declared that indeed, Perelman’s paintings were not damaged, their honor was not besmirched by the light patches of soot on the edges of their frames, and they were as valuable and certifiable masterpieces as they were the day before the fire.

What a relief that must be for an artlover like Ron Perelman, that his Twombly had not, in fact, “lost its ‘oomph,'” and what a victory for art.

There. Are. FOUR. LIGHTS.

an ellsworth kelly painting of five asymmetrical monochrome canvases in yellow, pink, black, and white, form a square. through the door behind it two figures are backlit by a hot white dan flavin fluorescent sculpture that turns the room around it green. at the national gallery of art in washington dc

I went back to the National Gallery of Art today just to photograph the two major lighting WTF going on right now, but also to celebrate the return of Ellsworth Kelly’s Tiger, an early multi-canvas masterpiece from 1953. The work had suddenly disappeared from the 2023 Ellsworth Kelly show at Glenstone, without a word of explanation.

In completely unrelated news, I remember a few weeks ago talking with one of the conservators at the NGA who said how much Ellsworth loved the Gallery, and had even left a bunch of money to research the conservation of contemporary paintings. Which is good, because [counting Tiger as one,] they have 24 Kelly canvases.

Back to the photo, which also shows Lighting Situation #1, or 1-3: a gallery of three white hot Dan Flavin Tatlin Monuments throwing my ccd out of whack.

a giant white barnett newman painting on the left wall is in a pink tinted gallery of all white paintings, as the bright white light of a dan flavin sculpture that turned its gallery green bleeds through the doorway, silhouetting a couple of visitors along the way. the national gallery of art

Which is fine. But there is a white walled gallery next to it, filled with white paintings. That is a Barnett Newman on the left, The Name II, 1950, very rarely seen. There’s also a Mary Corse, Robert Ryman, Freddy Rodriguez, and an Anne Truitt.

the shadow of a grumpy middle aged white guy is cast across a brightly lit all white painting by anne truitt, which has a patch of whiter paint, and a faint graphite line on that, though you wouldn't know it from the lighting. the national gallery

Truitt’s white acrylic and pencil on gesso Arundel XI painting suffers the worst. My phone camera is doing a lot of work here, and the painting is still almost unseeable.

a gallery of all yellow artworks with a yellow geometric olafur eliasson chandelier sphere in the center, includes a yellow shop storefront with canvas on it by christo; a yellow and orange painted square column by anne truitt; an angled mirrored doorway, actually a freestanding, deeply framed doorway-shaped sculpture, by olafur; and a figure on a bright yellow background by usco, at the national gallery

You know, to see these photos of Lighting Situation #2, Yellow Gallery, I feel like I’m being a noodge; they really do seem to color correct a lot, even presenting the range of yellows Christo, Truitt, USCO, Kusama, and Mangold used.

olafur eliasson's yellow sphere chandelier casts its light across all the other yellow objects in the gallery, canceling some of their tone. this includes the giant kusama infinity net, yellow on black, that looks like the one frank stella had for decades; a bunch of small works idek; and a multipart geometric canvas by robert mangold. at the national gallery of art.

Even Olafur’s got two different yellows, in the door and the orb. But it truly is the orb yellow that becomes a collaborator with every other work in the room; it’s really palpable. There is a similar circular pedestal being set up on the mezzanine right now; I wonder what they’ll hang above that one?

I really feel like I can see how these installations came together; the way the curators thought through the challenging situations these light-based objects present; and the factors that brought them to this spot in the first place. And it’s good to remember we really are all going through some stuff right now, as a city, a capital, a nation, and a world.

Vase Value

in a grey floored white cube gallery filled with a ring of jumbly contemporary sculptures, all narrow, tall pedestal-shaped, wrapped and decorated, with various agglomerations of objects on top of each one, the central artwork in the foreground is dominated by a large spider decoration atop a red plastic vase, balanced upside down on another silver vase, and surrounded by a bundle of sticks and a stick broom, and a silver painted baby doll, on a pedestal wrapped with babies from a copy of a lost leonardo, some mirror tile, and some orange plastic. this precarious work by isa genzken was made in 2004 and is titled dreaming baby. it was first shown at david zwirner gallery. — installation view of Isa Genzken, New Works, Spring 2005 at David Zwirner Gallery, NYC

Träumendes Kind (Dreaming Baby), 2004, stood at the center of Isa Genzken’s first show with David Zwirner in New York, in the spring of 2005. Topped with a twig broom, a mighty bundle of sticks, some precariously shoved-together vases, a spraypainted baby, and a giant Halloween spider, it was the shaggiest of the nine messy, totemic sculptures that dominated the show. It’s probably where Hirshhorn curator Anne Ellegood saw it, but it’s not clear when she decided to include it and five other similar Genzkens in her 2006 survey exhibition of contemporary sculpture, The Uncertainty of Objects and Ideas.

Traumendes Kind [minus the umlaut] was discussed at length in the show’s catalogue, where Ellegood celebrated “artists’ willingness to allow their work to suggest both a coming together and a falling apart.” And works whose “visible awkwardness or indeterminateness may take on structural manifestations in terms of delicacy, precariousness, and the periodic use of inherently unstable materials.” Yes, about that, actually,

In mid-October, a couple of weeks before the show, the Hirshhorn folks opened a large crate shipped from New York, and they found half the Genzken was missing. It turns out the mirror- and cherub-wrapped pedestal was in its own crate that didn’t make the trip. More importantly for this post, the half that did arrive was in pieces, rolling around on the bottom of the crate.

While looking for something else in the Hirshhorn archives I stumbled across the documentation of the resolution of Träumendes Kind‘s trauma: a thick folder of unredacted back & forth with the lender—gallerist Tim Nye, actually almost all of it was with his assistant—and Hirshhorn conservators, registrars, and curators, with occasional reply all’d interjections from the David Zwirner team and the Christian Scheidemann, contemporary art’s go-to conservator. It’s the kind of thing that happens all the time, but even for a show about sculptural uncertainty, it almost never gets mentioned or discussed in public. In this case, though, it’s all preserved for the nation by the Smithsonian.

tl;dr the sculpture’s fine ($35,000) and Nye’s fine ($30,000), but here’s what happened:

BOGO Tillmans Concorde Grid

wolfgang tillmans' grid of 56 photos of the concorde landing or taking off at heathrow airport are all in different formats and vantage points, wherever he was able to capture the image, but all printed at the same size that, to 21st century audience, now echoes a cellphone screen, but in 1997, did not. this edition was acquired by the hirshhorn museum in 2006 — Wolfgang Tillmans, *Concorde Grid*, 1997, 56 c-prints, ed. 10+1AP, this one acquired by the Hirshhorn in 2006

I still remember standing in front of Wolfgang Tillmans’ Concorde Grid as Andrea Rosen sold the last complete set to some art adviser from Paris who’d started talking to her before I did, and I was offered a few loosies, at unbundled prices. I got the book instead. But now I wonder if I should just YOLO it and make some.

While researching something else in the Hirshhorn’s archives recently, I stumbled across the museum staff’s correspondence with Tillmans and his gallerists about their acquisition of a Concorde Grid edition in 2006.

Actually, it was about designing the lighting for the Hirshhorn’s 2007 Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition, because conservators stipulated a lower light level than the artist wanted, in order to protect the museum’s new acquisition. But no worries, it turns out Tillmans had also provided an exhibition copy in addition to the “original,” 10-year-old C-prints, so just go ahead and turn up the lights, blast those suckers!

“[Tillmans] feels that implicit in the terms of the acquisition was the idea that the exhibition copy could be shown at light levels that he prefers to show his work,” wrote a curator to a conservator.

Which reminds me of something I’d heard Tillmans say before, that collectors of his unframed prints get the media file and a certificate of authenticity, and are able to reprint it as needed. He was talking about his large-scale prints, but I wonder if that applies for his smaller unframed works, too? Or maybe just to Concorde Grid, because it’s at once both large and small? Actually, re-reading this now, reprinting requires the destruction and return of the original print, so this is actually handled differently from an exhibition print. Also, MoMA stipulates two identical color prints whenever a work enters their collection, so maybe it’s nbd after all. nvm

Wolfgang Tillmans interview, 2021: ‘I don’t really believe in the possibility of absolute protection or in the inferiority of a slightly altered print.’ [lightingthearchive.org via @bbhilley.bsky.social]

Nailed Guyton

two wade guyton paintings, inkjet on linen, in a composite image to show their relative scale. the slightly smaller one on the left is a photo of a guyton sculpture made from a torqued out of shape chrome tubular steel frame of a breuer armchair in the artist's studio, is rather desaturated. especially compared to the larger image, a photo manipulated digital image of a painting by the artist with a single large disjointed X printed black on white, except here the white has all been turned to dayquil orange, and the shadowy edges are turquoise, a 2020 painting revisiting altered images of earlier work, both gifts to a former studio employee, now both selling at christie's in 2025 — Wade Guytons, Untitled, 2018 (32 x 26 in.) and 2020 (40 x 30 in.), for sale at Christie’s 30 Sept 2025

If you’re keeping track at home, 5-7 years seems to be the auction house’s recommended amount of time to wait before selling the artworks the very prominent and generous artist whose studio you worked in gave to you—and which, let’s be real, you might have actually made in the first place.

a detail of the top stretcher edge of a wade guyton painting, predominantly orange with a black border of a photo transparency, the upside down label kodak included. a row of staples holds the linen down, of course, hut in the center of the image is also a nail hole, where the 2020 painting was once tacked to a wall. selling at christies in 2025 — nailed it

Besides their adorably giftable scale, though, what strikes me about these two Wade Guyton paintings is that they both have nail holes in the top and bottom edges, as if they were nailed to the wall at some point before they were stretched. And now I want to see a show of unstretched Guytons nailed to the wall, curling just a little bit, and flapping in the breeze, as they are wont to do.

30 Sept 2025: Lot 353, Wade Guyton, Untitled, 2018, est. $50-70,000
Lot 355, Wade Guyton, Untitled, 2020, est. $200-300,000 [update: sold for $82,550 and $279,400, respectively][christies]
Previously, related: Wade Guyton and Anxiety in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

IYKYK Louise Lawler, Sunset In A Bunker

this color photo by louise lawler depicts the reflected light of the red yellow and blue triangular glass facets of olafur eliasson's spherical chandelier, berlin colour sphere, on the concrete wall and ceiling of the bunker in berlin that houses the boros collection. a black electrical cable is loosely pinned to the ceiling, presumably running to the chandelier. the picture's title, sunset in a bunker, reveals none of this information. this picture is being sold at christie's in oct 2025 — Louise Lawler, Sunset in a Bunker, 2009/10, c-print facemounted on plexi and plywood, 10×13 in., ed 2/5 (1AP) selling at Christie’s by 10 Oct 2025

Will we one day be able to deduce the travels and photography of Louise Lawler by close readings of her work, the way we can figure out where On Kawara was, and what he was up to?

Is there an entire body of work, for example, that she made when she visited the extremely bunker-branded Boros Collection in Berlin in 2009, and if so, was it kind of overwhelmed by all their Olafur Eliassons on view when it first opened?

Or is this one, little face-mounted picture, faux-enigmatically titled, Sunset in a Bunker, showing Eliasson’s Berlin Colour Sphere, 2006, the first artwork version of the chromatic glass chandeliers he made for the Copenhagen Opera House in 2004, all there is?

I would assume the Boroses got ed. 1 of whatever there is, but so far I don’t see that they’ve exhibited anything.

10 Sept 2025, Lot 163, Louise Lawler, Sunset In A Bunker, 2009/10, est. $4-6,000 [christies]

Mallet House, SITE Architects, 1985

the cover of the apr 14, 1986 issue of new york magazine has the title, special effects, by marilyn bethany, and a full page photo of a greek revival fireplace mantle, with a sculptural but and candelabrum that seems to be receding at an angle into the smooth white plaster wall, but which is actually an element created by SITE architects for Laure Mallet's west village townhouse. the corner of a very thin orange/pink marble table with one white book and a narrow black vase stuffed with poppies or ranunculus spilling out of it juts into the picture from the right edge. — Google Books scan of the cover of New York Magazine, Apr 14, 1986, which features o photo of SITE’s Laurie Mallet House, 1985

Speaking of that 1986 New York Magazine interiors issue with the feature on Willi Smith’s loft, it has another Smith-related project on the cover: the 1820 Greek Revival townhouse in the West Village which SITE renovated for WilliWear president Laurie Mallet. On her website, SITE co-founder Alison Sky said the project was titled, House of Memories, and the elements incorporated into the building were part of or referred to the house’s own history.

sunlight from an upper window hits a staircase and the white plaster wall behind it, which includes a partial plaster mold of a door and frame, receding into the wall. actually there is no door; but there is a black umbrella leaning in front of it. a photo from ny magazine 1986, of SITE's Mallet house, NYC — The way this overlaps the bottom stair shows how far out this plaster cast of another door in the house sits against the party wall. SITE”s Mallet House via NY Mag, Apr 14, 1986

SITE’s other co-founder James Wines has a few photos on his website, but not these. Also he doesn’t call it House of Memories, either. Let’s set that aside because, I gotta say, the NY Mag photos throughout this issue feel weirdly cramped and askew.

a 1986 ny mag photo through a greek revival door frame floating freely after the wall that originally surrounded it has been removed, of a wall of bookshelves with the ghostly plaster casts of the ends of other books against the back, and some fake white plaster books scattered about, all the architectural elements painted white, while the leather butterfly chair in front of the bookcase is black. very dramatic, but tbqh, a weirdly angled photo — Has Rachel Whiteread seen this? Has anyone? SITE’s Mallet House, via NY Mag, Apr 14, 1986

Though this does tell me how the doorframe left behind after a wall was removed relates to the bookshelf with cast plaster book ghosts seeming to poke through the wall from next door. Or did. This real estate listing photo shows the bookcase intact, but not the door.

a compass realtor photo of a white painted dining room in a new york city townhouse with a blue cushioned banquette on the right corner, a round marble table, and a couple of black painted, perriand style rush seat chairs, and two large windows on the back wall. on the left wall, where SITE architects created a ghostly fireplace mantle, candelabrum, and bust that seems to be receding at an angle into the white plaster wall, someone has drawn a whimsical flower arrangement in a vase. to the left of that is an inset shelf painted light blue inside. — I do not own a $6.3 million West Village townhouse that is the only residential project of one of the most fascinating and influential architecture firms of the late 20th century, but I like to think if I did, I wouldn’t tear chunks of it out for my random renovation and draw all over the rest. via realtor

Ok, it’s not Le Corbusier at E-1027, but the current [?] owners clearly did not feel constrained from adding their own paintings to SITE’s design.

Willi Smith, Friend Of The Artists

a screenshot of a 1986 photo of a mostly white loft, with a pillow filled white sofa on the left, and a dark metal looking screen behind it, and a coffee table shaped like africa in front of it, and zebra printed rugs on the floor in the foreground, and behind a bent plywood aalto armchair, a set of five christo lithographs and a black and white keith haring painting hang on the white wall. some distinctive floor lamps I wish I'd looked into more are in the middle right. from ny magazine 1986, designer willi smith's loft, designed with rosemary peck

I had to track down this photo from a 1986 New York Magazine feature and take a janky screenshot after seeing @haverst’s tumblr post of someone’s instagram post of photos of designer Willi Smith’s Lispenard St loft, designed with his friend Rosemary Peck.

Because those photos showed Dan Friedman’s Humanoid Folding Screen, but only a corner of Friedman’s Africa-shaped coffee table, and one of Christo & Jeanne Claude’s 1971 lithograph portfolio, (Some) Not Realized Projects. And they didn’t show the wooden shipping pallets Smith & Peck and some hired randos hauled up to the loft from Canal Street to use as coffee tables. [The Cooper Hewitt has a great Peck pic of one pallet. When I tell you they do not make pallets like they used to,]

a white on black keith haring painting of two figures with interlocking infinity ring heads surrounded by glowing rays also each have extremely long penises, also glowing or something, and an x on their chests. haring made this for his friend willi smith on new years eve 1984, and it was sold at phillips london in 2019, who exhibited it sideways — Keith Haring, *Untitled*, Dec 1984, enamel on metal, originally 40 x 36 in. when its first owner Willi Smith hung it, and around 36 x 40 when Phillips sold it in London in 2019

And they didn’t show the enamel painting on a scavenged metal panel Keith Haring made for Smith on 31 December 1984, at a New Year’s Eve party, at all. [And which was hung sideways when it was sold at Phillips in 2019.]

As Jarrett Earnest presented in the Cooper Hewitt’s amazing COVID-era exhibition on Willi Smith, the designer had been friends with the Christo Jeanne Claudes since the early 1970s, and had collaborated with them on several of their most iconic projects. Smith made pink t-shirts and painter caps for the volunteers installing Surrounded Islands in Biscayne Bay in 1983, of which, more later.

The Cooper Hewitt’s Willi Smith — Street Couture Community Archive is an international treasure [willismitharchive.cargo.site]
Previously, related: WilliWear Showroom by SITE, 1982-87

Wolfgang Tillmans, Fragile 51/300 or 1/1?

two wolfgang tillmans ad posters printed over each other, the one in portrait mode is dan, 2008, a red haired pink guy nude, photographed from above, as he seems to be climbing a wall amidst some foliage. the landscape photo, deer hirsch, 1995, is a black and white photo of wolfgang tillmans' boyfriend, a thin white guy with shaved short hair, cargo shorts and a white sleeveless tshirt and backpack, communing in some unexpected way with a deer on the beach at fire island. the details of fragile, wolfgang tillmans' 2018 exhibition in kinshasa, are printed atop each photo. this possible printers proof is framed, perhaps signed, and for sale in october 2025 at bernaerts auctioneers in antwerp

What an unusual Wolfgang Tillmans this is, coming up for sale in October 2025 at Bernaerts in Antwerp.

It’s listed with a title, Fragile, 2018, which was the artist’s first artist alias when he was a teenager. But is described as an exhibition poster for Tillmans’ show of the same name, organized by ifa and the Goethe Institute, which toured Africa. The dates and venues are for the first stop, at the MACM in Kinshasa, DRC.

robert carruta's photo of a wolfgang tillmans photo of a red haired pink guy, nude and photographed from above as he seems to be climbing a rock wall, mounted as an advertisement on a kinshasa lamp post in 2018 — Dan, 2008, as an ad for *Fragile* in Kinshasa, DRC, in 2018, photo Robert Carruba for Goethe

Which is all fine, except this is obviously an overprint of two of Tillmans’ most iconic pictures, Deer Hirsch (1995) and Dan (2008), with printer calibration marks and file names all around the border. If this is a printer proof, what is it proofing? Does Tillmans have a body of double-printed work? Given his propensity to print things, I’d be shocked if he didn’t.

a double printed image by wolfgang tillmans of the concorde taking off, silhouetted against a cloud filled sky, with a dark horizon line at the bottom fifth of the picture, published in 2017 and sold at lempertz in 2020 — Wolfgang Tillmans, *Double Concorde Unique*, offset print, 24.5 x 20.5 cm, no 12 of 129, sold at Lempertz

[And what do you know, he does? Double Concorde, 129 unique double-printed offset works, published by the Fondation Beyeler at the exact moment in Fall 2017 he was overprinting this poster.]

Anyway, what’s wilder is that it’s signed, and apparently numbered 51/300? It is definitely the case that the tabloid-style publication for Fragile included several fold-out posters. But this is not that. Was there really a signed poster edition for Kinshasa, and are the other 299 really all hiding offline all this time? Or was this some kind of one-off, which Tillmans signed to approve the colors, like that one epic Richter color proof?

To add some uncertainty, the Invaluable listing for the poster includes its signed and numbered info, ~~while Bernaerts’ own website does not~~. [update it does now.] Perhaps it was updated to remove the suggestion that there are more of these wild, 2-for-1 Tillmanses out there.

9 Oct 2025, Lot 1385, Wolfgang Tillmans, Fragile, 2018, est. EUR 600-800 [update: I think it sold for EUR400][bernaerts.eu]

Waiting For Danh Vo

a nested pair of imariware plates from japan with soft octagonal shape, a red field with three floral medallions surrounding a blue bouquet/vase motif, both plates are of identical pattern, but one is slightly smaller than the other. this pair is a declared artwork edition by danh vo from 2009, which was put up for sale at christies uk in 2015 and 2025 — Danh Vo, Untitled, 2009, two Imari plates that once belonged to Gen. Lyman Lemnitzer, ed. 2/12, not sold at Christie’s on 3 July 2025

I have been making intermittent but always unsuccessful sweeps of Imari ware online, in hopes of finding the pair of dishes that got away in 2018, the ones that looked uniquely identical to the edition Danh Vo created in 2009, but which, lacking any reported provenance or. attribution, ended up at a Florida estate auction for $70, despite my best attempts to bid $80.

While focused on that elusive dishware, though, I completely missed the reappearance at Christie’s last July of Danh Vo’s thoroughly documented example which did not sell for GBP4-6,000, even when the opening bid was lowered to GBP3,000. That edition, 2/12, turns out to be the same edition that didn’t sell in 2015 for GBP 10-15,000.

I guess all I have to do is sit tight and let the market work itself out, and I’ll have my $100 Danh Vo plates one way or another. Or a reasonable facsimile.

Previously, related: Danh Vo: Shop The Look

Green Go Home For The Home

a black and white photo of a young beautiful white eva hesse in a black turtleneck, arms upstretched against two pieces of a sculpture and draped in cellophane, a diaphanous archival image screenprinted in black on a 2-page spread of the ny times from 2015, by tomas vu, with a catchphrase from rirkrit tiravanija, up against the wall mother fuckers, printed over it in silver ink, being sold at rago arts in new jersey in sept 2025 — Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu, Untitled Green Go Home with Eva Hesse, 2015, 22 x 24 in., screenprint on newspaper, selling at Rago Arts on 30 Sept 2025

Green Go Home is an ongoing collaborative exploration by Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu of the origins of the phrase, “Gringo go home!” and all that it implicates. It seems to have started in 2013 as a screenprint collaboration between the two Columbia professors and their students to combine “portraits derived from Google searches with text supplied by Rirkrit on top.”

The presence of each character—from films to music to personalities of resistance—reveals itself to the viewer as addressing the condition of the graffiti text. The figures included vary from country to country, though some figures reappear, as they are, to me, at the crux of this discussion – Ted Kazynski, Alan Turing, Barbarella, Ana Mendieta. The grid holds up the statement and reinforces the layers of interpretation, readings, and misunderstandings. “Green Go Home” is meant to be a wall of resisters, and of resistance.

the wall of a madrid gallery in 2015 covered by a wallpaper of black on white photos of the heads of famous people and artists, including the unabomber and julian assange, and whoever, with prints on newspapers, framed in white, hung on top of it. each newsprint has a different famous person's head, including johnny cash, marcel duchamp, etc., plus a pithy saying of rebellion by rirkrit tiravanija. via nf galeria — Green Go Home, installation view, 2015, NF Galeria

It has been staged at least twelve times between 2013 and 2022, in formats including wheatpaste posters, made-on-the-spot t-shirts (free and for sale), murals, a plexi and aluminum pavilion, and on framed sheets of newsprint. There is also an ur-artwork, a 30×22 inch, 78-image, screenprinted portfolio in a mirror-finish steel box, in an edition of eight, that does not immediately correlate to anything that’s ever been shown publicly.

a head shot of alan turing silscreened in black ink over a spread from a 2015 spanish newspaper, with the phrase, los dias de esta sociedad son limitados, silkscreened in silver over that, a collaborative print by rirkrit tiravanija and tomas vu, floated in a white frame from its exhibition in madrid, being sold in new jersey at rago arts in sept 2025 — Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tomas Vu, Green Go Home with Alan Turing, 2015, 14 3/8 x 22 3/8 in., screenprint on newspaper, selling at Raga Arts on 30 Sept 2025

All of this is to say, four unique prints on newsprint from the 2015 incarnation of Green Go Home at Nieves Fernández in Madrid have appeared at auction in the New York metropolitan area. The first, at Doyle in 2019, let’s say it might still be available. And three more just turned up at Rago Arts in New Jersey. Technically, only two have a Madrid provenance—and Spanish frames. The unframed work up top, with the English phrase, UP AGAINST THE WALL MOTHER FUCKERS, printed on top of Eva Hesse doing her best Fifth of May, just has exquisite Madrid vibes, while resembling the prints shown in Berlin in 2020.

Besides, could anything feel more of the moment than the queer father of artificial intelligence, killed by the state, saying, LOS DÍAS DE ESTA SOCIEDAD SON LIMITADOS? Collect them all for your wall of resistance!

Powhida & Kelly: The Art World In Two Drawings

I’m not sure I’ve seen the deep emotional resonance of an artist’s experience in the contemporary art world captured more fully in just two drawings, by two artists I’d never thought of together before until their appearance in an online Heritage Auction in Dallas opened my mind. Now I see they share an unflinching commitment to seeing and depicting the world unfolding around them:

a william powhida drawing depicts a sheet of notebook paper taped to a wall, casting a slight shadow, on which hilariously depressing interpretations of various art world commentaries and small talk are listed in a way that gives full force to the artist's insecurities and renders the art world a shallow, judgy high school with occasionally free wine. being sold at heritage auction in sept 2025 — William Powhida, Possible Mean(ing)s, 2012, pencil & colored pencil on board, 19 x 15 in., selling 18 Sept 2025 at Heritage Auction [update: for $1,250 an incredible bargain]

This trompe l’oeil sheet of note paper, Possible Mean(ing)s is William Powhida at his crankiest, an exhausting and heartbreaking list of what an artist hears when they hear someone talking about their work: “I really liked your piece. (You’re in a horrible group show.)…You can’t control sales. (The collector is a scumbag Republican.)”

The work is being sold from the estate of Marlene Meyerson, a longtime arts patron and AMFAR fundraiser in Fort Worth who died in 2017, but it’s probably moving now because her husband Morton just died this year. Marlene’s first job out of college was working on the JFK campaign, so not a scumbag Republican. But maybe the next buyer is? Unless you bid to stop them?

Ellsworth Kelly, portrait of Robert Indiana, 1 May 1984, ink on card, 6 5/8 x 4 1/4 in., selling 18 Sept 2025 at Heritage Auction [update: sold for $3,250]

Meanwhile, speaking of group shows, Hirshl Adler Gallery hosted a Skowhegan Celebration Exhibition in May 1984, a group show of 43 past Skowhegan Medal award winners, in lieu of the art school’s traditional award gala. And so the gathering at the Plaza on Tuesday May 1st was more of an opening dinner. Artists and guests enjoyed Skowhegan Chicken Pot Pie and Original Maine Blueberry Cobbler. And during the festivities Ellsworth Kelly drew a portrait of Robert Indiana, his fellow Skowhegan alum, medalist, and Coenties Slip-era boyfriend, who must have been sitting just to his right. Whatever it took to get through the evening. It’s being sold by whoever had the keys to Indiana’s place in Vinalhaven, I guess.