S otheby’s is pleased to present Public Intervention: Art of the Street, a first-of-its-kind online auction celebrating the first generation of New York graffiti and street artists of the 1980s, the iconoclasts who pioneered the style of street art that has become a global staple of popular culture and an increasing source of inspiration in the world of Contemporary Art.
Open for bidding on Sothebys.com from 24 September – 1 October, the sale presents works by legendary artists such as Lee Quiñones, Rammellzee. Lady Pink, DONDI, Keith Haring, Richard Hambleton, KAWS and Kenny Scharf. Anchoring the sale is an outstanding selection of works from the Estate of Richard Hambleton, the enigmatic artist whose haunting shadow portraits helped define the urban interventionist spirit of street art in New York during the early 1980s, with a portion of the Estate’s proceeds from the sale to benefit Arts Education at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Highlights also include the most important work by Rammellzee to come to auction, a group of early tags and a notebook from KAWS that illuminate how an earlier generation of street artists inspired his aesthetic, and a detailed study for a subway mural by graffiti legend Lee Quiñones.
Highlights
Property from the Estate of Richard Hambleton with a Portion of the Estate’s Proceeds to Benefit Arts Education at the New Museum
Dondi White, Master Cylinder
Dondi White
Master Cylinder
acrylic on canvas
71½ by 104 in. 181.6 by 264.2 cm.
Executed in 1984.
Price upon request