Provenance
Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles
Exhibited
Chicago, Steve Turner at NEXT Chicago, Robert Davis / Michael Langlois and Rashid Johnson: The Blood We Shed for You was Divine, 24 – 28 April 2008
Catalogue Essay
‘“Post-black art” is basically the most recent version of this new-negro-ness. I think it speaks to the idea that the black character seems to always need some sort of reinvention. He or she is constantly in the process of a new discovery ... It’s fairly complicated. But it’s interesting to me in a lot of ways, and something that I’ve explored, but with an understanding of the more humorous aspects.’

- RASHID JOHNSON, 2013

Rashid Johnson investigates the construction of identity. Through the exploration of his own history and engagement with black creative and intellectual figures, he challenges embedded ways of thinking about the black experience in America. His multivalent works make manifest that there are, and have been, multiple experiences. Associated with a contemporary movement that has been called Post-Black Art, Johnson builds his narratives using sardonic plays on race, contradiction and paradox as ways to redefine notions of blackness.

The present lot exemplifies Johnson’s dynamic relationship with historical African American creatives. He reproduces ‘We Real Cool,' a 1959 poem by Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks, whose work characterises the simmering political mood of the Civil Rights era. The poem itself is based on a scene she witnessed in her Chicago neighbourhood, in which seven young men had skipped school to hang in a pool hall. Johnson also grew up on the outskirts of Chicago; his choice of Brooks, a highly influential figure in the city's literary scene, forms a secondary response to their shared environment. The canvas makes stylistic reference to graffiti and street culture, an aesthetic predominantly African American in origin that developed in the late 1970s. Through a grainy and rough surface akin to a brick wall, and sprayed letters that suggest pressure to compose the work quickly, We Real Cool builds a myriad of African American histories into its canvas. It is both humorous and serious in its electrifying presentation: the pathos of death in the final line cuts through its punchy jazz rhythm, a stark reminder of the high mortality rate among young black men.

1

Rashid Johnson

We Real Cool

2008
acrylic, grain on canvas
274.3 x 223.5 cm (108 x 88 in.)

Estimate
£60,000 - 80,000 ‡

Sold for £116,500

Contact Specialist
Peter Sumner
Head of Contemporary Art, London
psumner@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4063

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London Auction 12 February 2015 7pm

1
Rashid Johnson
We Real Cool
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £116,500
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2
Nate Lowman
Six Shooter
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £110,500
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3
Kelley Walker
Untitled
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000
Sold for £242,500
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4
Fredrik Værslev
Untitled (Canopy Painting: Blue and Orange V)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £68,500
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5
Danh Vo
We The People (detail), Element #L1
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡♠
Sold for £158,500
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6
Alex Israel
Sky Backdrop
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £506,500
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7
Tauba Auerbach
Untitled (Fold) X
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ‡
Sold for £1,202,500
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8
Ai Weiwei
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads
Estimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡
Sold for £2,882,500
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9
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,426,500
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10
Urs Fischer
Bad Timing, Lamb Chop!
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £506,500
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11
Mark Bradford
Biting the Book
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,546,500
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12
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £450,000 - 650,000 ♠
Sold for £452,500
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13
Andy Warhol
Diamond Dust Shoes
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,322,500
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14
Allen Jones
Sin-Derella
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £386,500
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15
Nate Lowman
Trash Landing Marilyn #12
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £422,500
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16
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Dinosaur)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £242,500
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17
Cecily Brown
Park
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
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18
Albert Oehlen
Greifen
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠†
Sold for £398,500
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19
Anselm Kiefer
Die Argonauten
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £662,500
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20
Antony Gormley
Settlement
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
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21
Julie Mehretu
Invisible Sun (algorithm 2)
Estimate £700,000 - 900,000 ‡
Sold for £902,500
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22
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate £350,000 - 450,000 ‡
Sold for £482,500
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23
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £362,500
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24
Banksy
Angel
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ♠
Sold for £206,500
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25
Barry Flanagan RA
Hare on Pyramid
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £482,500
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26
Julian Schnabel
Sonanbul
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000
Sold for £122,500
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27
Ai Weiwei
Coloured vases (in 3 parts)
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £182,500
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28
Mark Flood
Another Hole in the Ground
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ‡
Sold for £42,500
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29
Brent Wadden
Alignment #22
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ‡
Sold for £43,750
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30
Oscar Murillo
Bingo
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
Sold for £206,500
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London Auction 12 February 2015 7pm

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Provenance

Exhibited

Catalogue Essay

1

Rashid Johnson

We Real Cool

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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