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Punk Populism, Collectivism, and a “Murder Lounge” at Fountain

March 5, 2010 Artists, Manhattan, NYC, Opening

Fountain New York 2010 Art Fair at Pier 66

These are not heady times, but neither are they maudlin. We’re just getting really focused on some things that are a bit more consequential.

If the Whitney Biennial 2010 is taking hits for being restrained due to budgetary cuts and the Armory is criticized for being overblown, you could say the Fountain show is optimized for impact. Now in it’s 4th year, there wasn’t any fatty hype that needed to be trimmed. With some of the machine-fog of a bubbled art market clearing, it’s not surprising that there are some strong voices here.

Fountain for me is a kind of raw, dense, and measured survey of the moment, and curator David Kesting steers this 10,000 sf. ship of serious mis-content with an uncanny skill for cutting out the flim-flam. Herding cats can be easier than directing artists, and a fair number of these felines may border on feral, but the bow is pointed in a surprisingly assured direction. Because of it’s outsider billing you could expect anarchy here but in many ways this collection of 20 or so galleries, collectives, and projects can be rather unified.

And it couldn’t possibly be more thoughtful – Whether it is a Swoon benefit rep speaking earnestly about sustainable communities, La Familia’s co-founder Jennifer Garcia explaining their nearly 50-member collective’s contemplation of the definition of family, Gregg Haberny’s hyper-wrought stabs at oil oligarchy and hypocrisy in general, street artist Zeus’ dripping corporate logos, or Dave Tree’s shovel-blunt criticisms of agribusiness’s seedless produce, you get the idea that somebody is actually studying the underbelly. All this frankness is refreshingly hopeful and many pieces are downright fun. But if these are the artists in the margins that portend our future, we may be heading for a cultural awakening and radical realignment of society.

Greg Haberny (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

The Guns & Roses album by this name came out the same year as the eco-disaster Exxon Valdez, according to artist Greg Haberny, who is showing for at least his second year here and is a favorite at Leo Kesting Gallery. (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

An artist working in a schizophrenic style, Greg Haberny says, “If I’m off the hook emotionally and not at rest I let my body just go into it and I continue to work in that mode.” Does it feel dangerous? “Yeah, but I love it” (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

So THAT’s how he gets so much energy! Greg Haberny’s reworking of a logo may remind SOME people of of rollerskating at The Roxy in the 1990’s. (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

” A lot of people come in and say, ‘Oh, it’s street art’ and I’m like ‘no, it isn’t.’ It basically camouflages itself as that. In actuality it is everything you’re not supposed to say.” (A reworked and shotgunned Mobil sign by Greg Haberny) (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

New York street artist Swoon has a number of pieces in the booth that is raising money for Idea For the Here and Now, a group exhibition of limited edition prints to benefit Transformazium, an emerging collaborative arts center in Braddock, Pennsylvania. (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Swoon (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

We Are Familia (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Jennifer Garcia, co-founder of the project “We Are Familia”, “It is a collective of about 50 creative individuals from all disciplines. Our main project is this keepsake box project. Each box is made from recycled surplus materials and each is a collaboration of all of the members of the collective. Every keepsake box has completely unique contents and every form is completely unique and all are built a different way.” (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Jennifer thumbs through the contents of one of the Keepsakes, “The outside of this box was done by Fabian, Bedolla, and myself and then inside the box is 30-40 pieces of work. It pretty amazing actually. All the work is based on the concept of family. Every person was allowed to interpret family however they wished, so there is just an enormous range of stuff in here; video, photography, print, zines, paintings, drawings, photographs.” (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Part of La Familia, street art duo Thundercut exhibits this 3-D woodcut shadowbox (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Part of la familia, the street art duo Thundercut is exhibiting this 3-D woodcut shadowbox (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Clowning by Miguel Paredes (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Clowning by Miguel Paredes, a Miami artist who is showcasing his “Los Niños” series, a collection in which he uses his children as the subjects in an array of startling yet beautiful paintings. The series depicts an unknown world of the 21st century shown through Paredes’ unique multi-media slant on the art world. (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Miguel Paredes collab with 2ESAE and SKI from Destroy & Rebuild (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Miguel Paredes collaborated on a few pieces with New York based graffiti artists SKI & 2ESAE of Destroy & Rebuild (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Doug Groupp clowning around at the Open Ground booth (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Emily Bicht uses cutouts and imagery of domesticity on this wall in the Open Ground collective's booth (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Emily Bicht uses cutouts and imagery of domesticity and luchadors on this wall in the Open Ground collective’s booth (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Subtexture (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Subtexture is the moniker of this artist in the “Murder Lounge” in the hull of the boat. “They were throwing away all these “sidewalk closed” old signs. A few of them were really knarly, really chewed up. And I liked them. So I was developing this illustration style of projecting my photos and tracing them off, creating line drawings and bringing them into Illustrator and colorizing – I did a whole series like that.” (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Sorry for the blurriness of this pic – “Xerox transfers – a whole series where I’ve been shooting shadows cast by street-signs. After the transfer I’ve been using steel wool and water just to distress them,” Subtexture (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Matthew Craven from the Nudashank Gallery booth (Baltimore) (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Dave Tree did a number of pieces on shovels (and one wheelbarrow) called “The New American Dustbowl” series. “They are peasants from all around the world and the shovel is an international tool you’ll find everywhere. It’s not just about America, it’s about tampering with the whole process, genetic engineering, cross pollination, and seedless crops. I think that if we are going to survive we have to go back to a personal relationship with the land,” says the artist. (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

“Everybody should be growing food somehow. When I grew up my mother always had a garden. My grandmother was part Mi’kmaq Indian so I got an appreciation of that. When I was confirmed, she gave me a tree,” Dave Tree. (by the way, Dave Tree is his “rock name”, according to the artist.) (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Gawker Artists are showing this “Stripping Pen” painting by Steve Ellis, a portrait of downtown nightlife personality Amanda Lepore. (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Well known Parisian street artist ZEUS has two canvasses in his typical style of dripping. Habib Diab, of Galerie Zeitgeist explains that the process is called “Liquidating.” (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

Travelling around the world to malign corporate logos and messages, ZEUs refers to his work as “Visual Attacking”, and sometimes includes “Visual Kidnapping” (photo ©Steven P. Harrington)

The projects in Fountain New York 2010 include NYC based collective The Art Bazaar, Christina Ray – Swoon Benefit for the Braddock PA Studios, Leo Kesting Gallery from New York, Galerie Zeitgeist from Paris, the Brooklyn based project Open Ground, Baltimore based Nudashank Gallery, We-Are-Familia artists collective which will be displaying their keep-sake boxes with work from Whitney Biennale 2010 artist Rashaad Newsome, LA based website ArtSlant, Shelter Island Projects Boltax Gallery and Sara Nightingale Gallery, CREON gallery, UK based Holster Projects and artists installations by: Alison Berkoy, Miguel Parades, Seth Mathurin, Temporary States and Gawker Artists.

Fountain NY 2010
Pier 66 at 26th St in Hudson River Park NY, NY 10011
Telephone: 917.650.3760
Email: info@fountainexhibit.com
Website: http://fountainexhibit.com
Dates: March 4-7; 11am–7pm

Tranformazium

Amanda Lepore “Cotton Candy”

Boris Hoppek & Alex Diamond: FACTORY FRESH IS IN “DAMAGE:CONTROL” MODE THIS FRIDAY

March 5, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, Opening

To save their reputation and do a bit of DAMAGE:CONTROL the wise visionaries at Factory Fresh have flown in Boris Hoppek and Alex Diamond from Hamburg sister gallery Helium Cowboy to stage an unforgettable show tonight in Bushwick.

Tonight at Factory Fresh

This is what they have to say about it:

“The exhibition is called DAMAGE:CONTROL – each of the artists supplied one of the words when finding a joint theme for the show. Who does the damage and who’s controlling it is hard to tell, all we can leak is that we know who contributed which word

Boris Hoppek and Alex Diamond (Image ©DA Stover)

Although being close friends for a long time, Boris Hoppek and Alex Diamond have never collaborated this closely in the past. Everyone involved in the show is really happy with the result: it seems like the perfect match; the works correspond nicely, and the whole set up of the room couldn’t be more harmonic.

One of the collaborations of Boris Hoppek and Alex Diamond (Image ©DA Stover)

While Boris will be showing photos and watercolors, Alex brought along brand new china ink brush drawings as well as a series of collages. Most of the work has never been exhibited before and was specifically created for the Factory Fresh show.

Alex Diamond incognito doing the installation at Factory Fresh (Image ©DA Stover)

On location, Boris installed a new upskirt installation (this time you have to slip underneath a beautiful, vintage wedding dress), as well as painting one of the walls with markers. Alex has been busy creating a new piece of collage work (assembled and painted on the gallery floor).

No need to shine your shoes to look up a skirt anymore! (Image ©DA Stover)

It seems to be heavily influenced by this trip, and sports quite an unusual motive compared to others. It comes on 4 wood panels, that are attached to each others, and is integrated into a wall painting, jointly with the six new collages he brought along on this journey. The work is called “Demon skull”.”

Another collaboration of Boris Hoppek and Alex Diamond (Image ©DA Stover)

DAMAGE:CONTROL
The Art of Boris Hoppek & Alex Diamond
Show opens Friday, March 5th at Factory Fresh from 8pm-11pm

Factory Fresh is located at 1053 Flushing Avenue between Morgan and Knickerbocker, off the L train Morgan Stop

Anonymous Gallery @ Collective Hardware, SCOPE Art Show Presents: {He}Art For Haiti

March 3, 2010 Events

Anonimous Gallery Presents

Husband and wife team Sacha Jenkins and Raquel Cepeda have joined forces with the Anonymous Gallery, @ Collective Hardware, SCOPE Art Show, {He}Art ForHaiti and Colab Projects to co-curate and produce a silent art auction benefiting the people of Haiti.

On Sunday March 7, 2010, Anonymous Gallery @ Collective Hardware, SCOPE Art Show, {He}Art ForHaiti and Colab Projects join forces to present as a part of The Armory Show weekend in New York. An exhibition, silent auction and closing party for the SCOPE Art Show promises to be not only a memorable evening, but one which will offer moral, financial and spiritual support to the people of Haiti in their most desperate time of need.

Image ©Ricky Powell

Curated and produced by Anonymous Gallery, {He}Art For Haiti, and Colab Projects; N’apBoule is an exhibition and event that will include significant flat works, sculptures, installations, and performances from contemporary artists whose work blends lines between contemporary popular culture, political activism, and social commentary.

Image ©Henry Chalfant

Along with a selected work from the iconic Puerto-Rican and Haitian-American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat gracing the event, the auction will include works by Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, Futura,Crash, Jose Parla, Lee Quiñones, Dondi White, Tauba Auerbach, Swoon, Eric Haze,David Ellis, Doze Green, Faile, Bast, Greg Lamarche, Kostas Seremetis,Maripol, Rostarr, Chris Mendoza, Yuri Shimojo, Kenji Hirata, Cope2, Indie 184, ErikFoss, Henry Chalfant, Dan Witz, Ricky Powell, Shelter Serra, Eric White, Jamel Shabazz,Michael Holman, Eve Sussman, Joseph Ari Aloi, Kenzo Minami, Daze, Aaron SHARP Goodstone, and moreAll of the artists involved will donate artwork and all proceeds will go to Medecins Sans Frontieres(Doctors Without Borders)

Image ©Crash

Anonymous Gallery

169 Bowery

New York, NY 10002

‘OCEAN OF BLOOD” PROJECT – A SILENT AUCTION FOR SWIMMING CITIES to go on the GANGES RIVER

March 3, 2010 Artists

From their press release:

Taking a new waterway each year our projects create a vivid community of artists floating into towns to present an interactive environment which encompasses art, sculpture, music and performance. The uncommon talents of our members interact in an organic design process in a unique form of living art. Our previous projects include THE SWIMMING CITIES OF SWITCHBACK SEA on the Hudson River for Deitch Projects and THE SWIMMING CITIES OF SERENISSIMA across the Adriatic Sea for the Venice Biennale.

Below THE SWIMMING CITIES OF SERENISSIMA at The Grand Canal in Venice.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

This image is from The Grand Canal in Venice, during the most recent Swimming Cities tour across the Adriatic Sea to the Venice Biennale. © Tod Seelie

For Swimming Cities upcoming project, they will construct a fleet of small sculptural river craft at the foothills of the Himalayas, in a cultural exchange with local South Asian artists and artisans. The hand-crafted boats will traverse the Ganges River from Kanpur to the holy city of Varanasi stopping at towns and villages along the way to meet locals and commission crafted embellishments for the boats in the local styles. Upon arrival in Varanasi the boats will merge together into a great floating island stage. In collaboration with local artists and musicians they will produce a performance inspired by their adventure and the immense cultural history of the Ganges.

Street Artist Imminent Disaster will have the piece below up for auction to benefit the “Ocean of Blood” project.

Imminent Disaster. “Curled Web” Image Courtesy of the artist.

Complete list of artists to be included in the auction:

Swoon, Tom Beale, Imminent Disaster, Tod Seelie, Ben Mortimer, Ben Wolf, Ero, Andrew Poneros, Tony Bones, Jeff Stark, Isaac Aden, Ariel Campos, Greg Henderson, Doyle S Huge, Leslie Stern, Lopi LaRoe, Katelan Foisey, Iris Lasson, Spy, Sarah Atler, Matt Curtis, Petric Seeley, Zev David Deans, Elizabeth Bentley, Hannah Mishin, Orien McNeill, Ksenija, Angie Kang, Ben Devoe, Czak Tucker, Heather Jones, Noah Sparks, Porter Fox, Tim Treason, A’yen Tran, Dan Sabau, Virginia Reath, Clair Huntington, Kara Blossom, Martina Mrongovious

For information about this organization go here:

http://weareswimmingcities.org

FRIDAY MARCH 05

56 Walker St, Tribeca
7pm-1am, $10 Door, Open Bar
DJs Small Change and Shadetek

Stencil Top 5 for 03.01.10

March 1, 2010 Artists, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street, Paris, Washington DC

The Stencil Top 5 as picked by Samantha Longhi of StencilHistoryX

Czarnobyl (POL) (spray on MDF, 7 colors and 9 stencils) (image courtesy Stencil History X)

Learn more about this piece by Czarnobyl at Stencil History X

"Seems So Long Ago" by artist Btoy for the "Art for Bhopal" show at Pure Evil Gallery in London. (image courtesy Pure Evil Gallery)

Artist Joe Iurato stands in front of his piece for the Art Whino "G40" Show in Washington DC. (image courtesy the artist)

An anonymous piece in Paris (photo ©Lepublicnme)

A portrait of David Bowie by MBW at his New York show (photo ©Lois in Wonderland)

See more at StencilHistoryX.com

Lois in Wonderland on Flickr

See more work by Joe Iurato

See more work by Btoy

Lepublicnme’s Flickr

Pure Evil Gallery

Art Whino “G40”

SWIMMING CITIES PRESENTS: Silent Auction for The Ganges River Project. India. 2010

March 1, 2010 Events

SWIMMING CITIES PRESENT

Friday, March 5th
56 Walker St, Tribeca
7pm-1am, $10 Door, Open Bar
DJs Small Change and Shadetek

We will be unveiling a 18′ x 8′ hand crafted stainless steel catamaran
powered by a motorcycle driven paddle wheel, and help us raise money
for the remaining four. To read more about Swimming Cities and the new
Ocean of Blood Project in India scroll to the bottom or check out:

Artists include: Swoon, Tom Beale, Imminent Disaster, Tod Seelie, Ben
Mortimer, Ben Wolf, Ero, Andrew Poneros, Tony Bones, Jeff Stark, Isaac
Aden, Ariel Campos, Greg Henderson, Doyle S Huge, Leslie Stern, Lopi
LaRoe, Katelan Foisey, Iris Lasson, Spy, Sarah Atler, Matt Curtis,
Petric Seeley, Zev David Deans, Elizabeth Bentley, Hannah Mishin,
Orien McNeill, Ksenija, Angie Kang, Ben Devoe, Czak Tucker, Heather
Jones, Noah Sparks, Porter Fox, Tim Treason, A’yen Tran, Dan Sabau,
Virginia Reath, Clair Huntington, Kara Blossom, Martina Mrongovious

http://weareswimmingcities.org

SWIMMING CITIES is a diverse group of artists, builders, and
performers who come together each year and embark on a challenging
large-scale project. Originally united through the international
artist Swoon, the group traces its roots to the DIY raft project on
the Mississippi River, the “Miss Rockaway Armada.” Taking a new
waterway each year our projects create a vivid community of artists
floating into towns to present an interactive environment which
encompasses art, sculpture, music and performance. The uncommon
talents of our members interact in an organic design process in a
unique form of living art. Our previous projects include THE SWIMMING
CITIES OF SWITCHBACK SEA on the Hudson River for Deitch Projects and
THE SWIMMING CITIES OF SERENISSIMA across the Adriatic Sea for the
Venice Biennale.

For Swimming Cities upcoming project, they will construct a fleet of
small sculptural river craft at the foothills of the Himalayas, in a
cultural exchange with local South Asian artists and artisans. The
hand-crafted boats will traverse the Ganges River from Kanpur to the
holy city of Varanasi stopping at towns and villages along the way to
meet locals and commission crafted embellishments for the boats in the
local styles. Upon arrival in Varanasi the boats will merge together
into a great floating island stage. In collaboration with local
artists and musicians they will produce a performance inspired by
their adventure and the immense cultural history of the Ganges.

Images of Week 02.28.10

February 28, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, BSA Images Of The Week, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street, Week in Images

Last Day of FEBRUARY! Make Snowmen while you still can!

One of the original displays of public/urban/street art – the Snowman (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

For the most part winter can be a bit barren of new street art in New York. But these days the street art explosion continues no matter what the weather! Despite the crushing snow and black ice, BSA’s Images of Week keeps finding new stuff. This week’s crop includes a new-for-us REVS and a bunch of El Sol 25 with HAND PAINTED surrealist paper collages. Enjoy!

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Revs (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Woody Luchador on an oak tabletop (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 goes to the circus (or a Christian LaCroix show) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

RWK (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 over Faile (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Be sure to read Deeker’s latest posting (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Keely catching snowflakes on the tongue (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

I dream that love will be a piece of cake (Celso) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Gray skies are gonna clear up,
Put on a happy face (El Sol 25) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

A simple clean look for spring from this spaceman (Blip) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Tony Blair meets Anne Bancroft (El Sol 25) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Old Footage of Basquiat in a Drawer = New Film “The Radiant Child”

February 27, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, Manhattan, NYC

Just released on the 21st, a new film and interview with Jean-Michel Basquiat at the age of 25 – by his close friend Tamra Davis. Salted Peanuts anybody?

Dizzy Gillespie ,”Salt Peanuts” on TV in 1947

Dizzy Gillespie ,”Salt Peanuts” great quality audio

Fun Friday 02.26.10

February 26, 2010 Artists, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, NYC, Queens

SNOW DAY!!! No School In New York City Today! YAY!!!

We got hit by a big snow storm, which means everybody gets to stay home and play Guitar Hero! Or, you can make a SICK art project in the kitchen with MILK, FOOD COLORING, and DISH SOAP

You’ll never guess what happens when you mix them.

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NIPPLE ALERT: And Now, Our Report from the Olympics

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New Brow!

Nope, it’s not that thing cousin Ralphy has growing on his face….

“A ‘New Brow’ art movement because it was new thinking in the art world.”

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Photographer Terrry Richardson’s portrait of DJ Pauly D of “Jersey Shore”

A portrait of DJ Pauly D. from Terry Richardson’s site

Go to Terry’s Diary HERE.

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I am a SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT

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Advertising Always Respects Community Values

HUNG LIKE A BILLBOARD

Damn, I’m feeling kind of insecure right about now.

Imminent Disaster In The Studio: Prepping for “Refuge” at Thinkspace Show

February 25, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, California, Los Angeles, NYC

Brooklyn based Imminent Disaster has been preparing for a show with Armsrock called “Refuge” at ThinkSpace Gallery in Los Angeles on March 12.

Here are some shots of preparations in the studio last month.

Balancing on a ladder or on bended knees on the factory building wooden floor for hours, Disaster is surrounded by piles of shredded black and white paper, dulled blades, and a quiver of spanky new sharp ones.

The new figure regards you over her shoulder and down the full length of her abundant petti-coated bustle, which jutts out from the wall 3.5 feet at it’s hem.

View the newly completed piece on Imminent Disaster’s Flickr

Thinkspace is moving to Culver City but they are always online HERE.

New ARMSROCK Video of his recent “Passage/Works” projection project

El Celso Presents: “ART SHRED” at The Winkleman Gallery

February 24, 2010 Events

El Celso Presents

Bring your art to Shred with Celso and Friends

NEW YORK, NY (February 24, 2010) – El Celso is pleased to present ART SHRED, a group exhibition/shredding of new original works on paper, photographs, letters and other priceless works.

ART SHRED is an on-site shredding service that will help artists and other participants liberate themselves of important works of art, meaningful love letters and one-of-a-kind photographs – and other significant material created, printed, or written on paper. After being sliced and diced, all works will be scattered on the gallery floor. If you have something of consequence that you would like to have shredded, e-mail celso@elcelso.com. Walk-ins welcome.

ART SHRED will showcase the shredded works of:

El Celso, C-Monster, Jennifer Dalton, William Powhida, Paul Kostabi, Jennifer Dziura, Darkcloud, infinity, Martha Cooper, ski, James & Karla Murray, 2esae, Keely, avone, Leonardo Furtado, Man Bartlett, Morgan Thomas, Buildmore Shrines, Abe Lincoln Jr., LA II, Pufferella, Skewville, Royce Bannon, Destroy & Rebuild, James Willis, Rednose, Luna Park, Robots Will Kill, The Endless Love Crew, Veng, Elisha Cook Jr., Felix Morelo, Reid Harris Cooper, Dean Radinovsky, Cake, Depoe, Stikman and many more to be announced!

ART SHRED will be held on March 3^rd, 2010 between 2pm-4pm

@ The WINKLEMAN Gallery

621 W. 27^th Street

(between 11^th & 12^th Avenues)

ART SHRED a proud member of and is brought to you by #class

Organized by Jennifer Dalton and William Powhida

February 21- March 20, 2010

For more information please contact celso@elcelso.com or visit:

http://elcelso.com

http://hashtagclass.blogspot.com/

http://www.winkleman.com/

Where’s your REVS? Sculpture is HOT!

February 24, 2010 Artists, Auction

THE TEN MOST EXPENSIVE PIECES OF ART EVER SOLD

You would think that the current doldrums with bear markets worldwide, discussions of entire countries in imminent bankruptcy, the banker-induced housing crisis here and unemployment rolls hitting record heights, the appetite for buying art might have dried up. Um, nope.

Apparently for art collectors with big pockets, a keen eye, and good intuition there’s no such a thing as a recession. Art continues to be made, bought and sold regardless of the economic environment, if the recent record sale of Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man I” for a whopping $104.3 was any indication. It was the most expensive artwork ever sold at an auction.

The 1961 “L’Homme Qui Marche I,” a life-size sculpture of walking human figure is 72 inches (183 centimeters) tall. According to Sotheby’s auction house, it “represents the pinnacle of Giacometti’s experimentation with the human form” and is “both a humble image of an ordinary man, and a potent symbol of humanity,”