The Post-Hanukkha, Week-Before-Christmas, Kwanzaa Preparation Sale!

There are a handful of artists whose work is so highly sought that it almost never becomes available for sale. Acquiring a piece involves cozying up to a gallerist for a good, long time just to get added to the bottom of that artist's waiting list. If the artist is not prolific, the prospect of ever actually owning a painting is somewhere between slim and none.

Joe Coleman is such an artist.

His shows are almost entirely pre-sold, and his painstaking, three-hair brush technique doesn't lend itself to a large body of work. In a career that spans over three decades, his total output is still under 150 paintings.

We have two Joe Coleman paintings for sale, both of which are incredibly important and valuable works from his early gallery period. Pictured at left is Divine Comedy from 1993, a signature work which contains a self-portrait in his ubiquitous grotesque. This and 1991's The Need to Incorporate Sexual Fantasy into Everyday Life (a piece so controversial that we can't post it to our blogger account), are part of the Secret Holiday Sale of paintings from the collections of our collectors.

This is a very atypical collection of works, featuring the very first Joe Sorren experiment with oil paint, Marylin Monroe, from the Pin-Ups group show back in 1996 (the figure is acrylic, but the hair is oil). Joe's recent work has been snatched up by some of the most important and influential collectors in the market, and pure portraiture is extremely rare within his oeuvre. His work simply never hits the resale market, and this painting has the added cache of being historically significant in charting the artist's progression.

Similarly, we have a beautiful Daniel Martin Diaz painting (in a gorgeous hand made frame) that was featured in his published catalog Mysterium Fidelis. We have a classic Bill Ward conte crayon drawing from a 60s girlie magazine. We've got a seminal Eric White painting from 1996 that hints at the genius to come. We've got a Laurie Lipton commission from 1975 that might be the earliest example of her work that you will ever see!

What else? How about an authentic, signed Salvador Dali woodblock print from 1964, or two H. R. Giger silkscreened artist proofs from the early 70s? How about three Syd Mead gouaches from the late 1960s –from that most desirable body of work done for U.S. Steel! A big Clive Barker charcoal! A couple of small Camille Rose Garcia paintings! Three Clayton Brothers paintings from back in the day! Multiple Chris Mars, Shag, and Biskup paintings!

This is like Juxtapoz Magazine's Greatest Hits, all under a single banner: The Secret Holiday Sale!

This is seriously the kind of work that justifies selling vehicles, stock portfolios and taking on second mortgages to buy. And this is only the beginning. I'll be adding more paintings right up until Christmas Eve, including dream pieces by Gary Baseman, Scott Musgrove, and Isabel Samaras. First come, first served! This past week we sold multiple Robert Williams, Shepard Fairey and Marion Peck pieces, and if I had any more of their work, I'd list it, but I do not. There are pieces from other artists that I would loved to post that I can't. If you've got an artist whose work you've been dying to collect, let me know. I might have it right here already.

Don't be the last person without a chair when the music stops. Shoot me an email and get on the notification list. If you see a piece you want to buy, but don't think you can afford it, call me to see about working out some payment terms. You deserve this.
Get yourself a present this Christmas.
Spend some of that Hanukkha gelt!
Or just buy some high class decorations for Kwanzaa.

Of course there's really no excuse necessary for buying art, because owning art is its own reward, and the art in this collection offers a whole 'nother level of reward. Link here.