London – The Prints and Multiples sale on 21 September at Bonhams Knightsbridge will feature prints from rising stars and established favourites, such as Banksy, Damien Hirst, Chris Levine and David Shrigley, alongside those by Peter Blake, David Hockney and Francis Bacon.
A strong selection by Banksy (born 1974) leads the sale. Among them is one of Banksy’s best-known images, the doleful ape from Laugh Now. The punchline is written on the sandwich board around his neck: “Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge”. Laugh Now, screenprint in colours, has an estimate of £30,000 – 50,000.
Banksy prints also featured in the sale are:
- Barcode, screenprint in colours, 2004, on wove, estimate £25,000 – 35,000.
- Love Rat, screenprint in colours, 2004, on wove, estimate £25,000 – 35,000.
- Happy Choppers, screenprint in colours, 2003, on wove, estimate £20,000 – 30,000.
- Bomb Love (Bomb Hugger), screenprint in colours, 2004, on wove, estimate £20,000 – 30,000.
With his hypnotic portraits of famous figures, Chris Levine (Canadian/British, born 1972) brings a Classical genre into the present, using light technology to make his sitters appear to glow from the inside. The effect enhances the meditative poses and closed eyes, a modern-day equivalent to saintly iconography. This style is used to great effect in Levine’s response to a commission from Queen Elizabeth II. Following the death of our longest-reigning monarch, the inkjet print in colours, Lightness of Being (Blue), 2014, is a fitting commemoration, Levine inviting us into her “inner realm”. The print has an estimate of £6,000 – 8,000.
A print of Damien Hirst’s (British, born 1965) dot painting,All Through Eternity from The Currency, 2016, has an estimate of £10,000 – 15,000. Numbers of artworks are set to reduce, as Hirst will conclude his NFT experiment with the burning of the physical editions taking place this September, so the sale will address a renewed interest in his highly recognisable explosions of space and colour. Also included in the sale are two parts of The Virtues, a series of blossoms spattered across bright blue skies. Mercy and Control each have an estimate of £6,000 – 8,000.
Other Hirst highlights include:
- N-Methyl L-Aspartic Acid, screenprint in colours, 2011, estimate £5,000 – 7,000.
- For the Love of God, screenprint in colours, 2007, estimate £4,000 – 6,000.
David Shrigley (born 1968) has captured the zeitgeist, assigning nihilist captions to animals in a format close to that of internet memes. InFuck, screenprint in colours, 2021, estimate £2,500 – 3,500, a rooster shouts an expletive. “To Hell with Zoos / Free the Penguins First”, thinks the dissident penguin of To Hell with Zoos, a screenprint in colours, 2021, estimate £2,500 – 3,000.
Carolin von Massenbach, Head of Prints and Multiples in London, commented, “Collectors of all ages and experience are bound to be excited by this sale, in which Britain’s contribution to contemporary art is powerfully felt. It’s great to see such a wealth of early Banksy works, and there are plenty of examples by Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, as well as prints by Miles Aldridge and the Conner Brothers. There’s something for everyone.”
