artnet Auctions Features Street Life: A Sale of Graffiti and Street Art

artnet Auctions is proud to feature Street Life: A Sale of Graffiti and Street Art, an auction of over 40 works by artists such as JA, CES, Banksy, COPE 2, Toxic, Trike 1, Jean-Michel Basquiat, CRASH, FAILE, Futura 2000, Keith Haring, Mr. Brainwash, Ryan McGinness, Ronnie Cutrone, Shepard Fairey, Judith Supine, KAWS, Saber, and SEEN. The works in the sale have estimates ranging from US$2,000 to 50,000.

On the heels of the critically acclaimed show "Les BALLETS de FAILE" at Lincoln Center, the auction will offer an early mixed media painting by the Brooklyn-based Street Art collaborative FAILE (American). Bunny Boy, estimated at US$40,000 to 50,000, dates from the period when FAILE was a trio, before founding member Aiko Nakagawa left the group-making this a rare piece of Street Art history. The work's use of fragmented, heavily layered comic book appropriations demonstrates the strong influence of Pop and Nouveau Réaliste collagists such as Richard Hamilton, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jacques Villeglé. Executed in 2003, Bunny Boy captures a formative moment in the development of FAILE's iconic style, with its wild blend of high and low culture.

Another highlight of the sale is a new spray paint on canvas work by COPE 2. Infamy, estimated at US$2,500 to 3,500, is a dramatic and gestural composition dominated by white, black, and red. A mature piece by one of New York's leading Graffiti artists, it showcases the distinctive use of lettering that has typified COPE's work since his days writing on New York City subway lines in the 1970s.

The sale also includes a spray-enamel on canvas work by pioneering Graffiti artist CRASH (American, b.1961). Estimated at US$25,000 to 30,000, Comedy, Tragedy (1989) is a seminal early work that shows CRASH's influential fusion of cartoon imagery, Pop Art elements, and segmented Graffiti letters, creating a new and distinctive Street Art aesthetic.

Street Life: A Sale of Graffiti and Street Art will be live on artnet Auctions from April 23 through 30, 2013, and on view here.

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For more information about this sale, please contact artnet Auctions specialist:
Max Wolf
Senior Specialist, Contemporary Art
+1-212-497-9700 ext. 399
MWolf(at)artnet(dot(com

Media Contacts:
To receive further information and images, or to arrange interviews, members of the media may contact:
Elizabeth Reina-Longoria or Deirdre Maher
+1-212-675-1800
Elizabeth(at)bluemedium(dot)com or Deirdre(at)bluemedium(dot)com

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