Kenny Scharf - Disruptors: Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Design and Watches Hong Kong Thursday, May 25, 2023 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Kenny Scharf is a legendary American artist who was a pioneer in the iconic 1980s East Village street art scene in New York. Together with artists such as Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Scharf helped spearhead the aesthetics of the era, co-authoring arguably the most essential chapter in street art history by positioning it as an equal player on the contemporary art world’s main stage. Today, the Californian is widely recognised as one of the most important figures in the ‘Lowbrow Pop Surrealism’ art movement, which is characterised by abstract imagery merging with dreamy cartoon characters, and is rooted in comics, punk music, and graffiti and street culture.

     

    Like many other children growing up during Pop Art's cultural boom in the 1960s, Scharf was greatly impacted by images of popular and commercial culture that permeated and shaped American collective consciousness. But, unlike other kids, Scharf's interests went beyond clipping out photographs from magazines to stick on his bedroom wall. Instead, he found joy in finding expression on the streets, where, with a spray paint can in hand, he could share his unique, Day-Glo, psychedelic pictures with the public.

     

    In his works, Scharf employs a range of techniques, media and allusions to create hallucinatory compositions bursting with bright colours, bold patterns, and dreamlike metaphors, featuring a host of anthropomorphic creatures, extraterrestrial beings, and comic book motifs.

      
     

    A Unique Statement Against Marine Pollution

     

    In 2012, Scharf decided to take his practice one step further by working on a unique partnership with Parley – a group and platform raising awareness about the major threats towards our oceans, which are the most important ecosystem of our planet. As Scharf explained, ‘I am obsessed with plastic in our oceans and I jumped at the chance to do anything with other people that are also sharing that obsession.’ iParley’s Global Cleanup Network has a special focus on protecting the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico where the group have been active since 2017, and where Scharf himself has spent numerous years.

     

     


    Kenny Scharf x Parley, Surfboards, 2021
    Image/Artwork: © 2023 Kenny Scharf / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

     

    Scharf created a small group of only twelve individually painted surfboards, with each considered a unique composition that transcends the boundaries of conventional surfboards to become artworks in their right. The legendary surfboard maker Tim Bessell hand shaped each board composed of recycled material, which Scharf then used as his canvas to paint onto with variations of his neon, cartoonish grinning faces, which have been a signature of the artist’s work since 1981.

     

    The animated faces on each of these surfboards are replete with emotions ranging from jubilance to wrath, each deeply imbued with the artist’s signature aesthetic, and each possessing a unique character that tells a story. Composed of vibrant orange, the present work features a wide-smiling face with sparkling teeth and round green eyes detailed with black line. The imagined creature’s expression is one of joy and good humour, which metaphorically contrasts the underlying themes the painting also represents. 

     

     


    Raymond Pettibon, No Title (The bright flatness…), 2003
    Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York
    Image: © The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence, Artwork: © Raymond Pettibon. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner

     

    The present work links the art practice of Kenny Scharf to that of Raymond Pettibon, whose paintings and drawings of surfing are also synonymous with the 1980s Californian punk scene. But whereas Pettibon taps into the theme by depicting surfers riding waves, Scharf takes it one step further by using the surfboard itself as his medium. By taking something considered a functional object and transforming it into an artwork imbued with meaning and emotion, Scharf creates a unique symbiosis between form and function, resulting in a unique work which can be enjoyed both aesthetically and conceptually. 

     

    As a keen lover of the ocean, Scharf has been collecting plastic pollution from beach shorelines since the 1980s, often incorporating it into his art and art installations. With the present work, Scharf not only highlights the dangers of plastic and other human-made materials on our planet, he also innovatively showcases how art can be used as a means of creating impact and spreading messages about the importance of environmental conservation. As such, the present work is not just a product of Scharf’s artistic genius, but is also a testament to Kenny Scharf’s artistic and environmental values and his ability to transform something mundane into something extraordinary.  

     

     


     Kenny Scharf shares insight into the present work’s conception

     

     

    Collector’s Digest

     

    • After graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1980, Kenny Scharf embarked on his artistic journey in the East Village of New York. He became renowned for his participation in the interdisciplinary East Village art scene of the decade.

    • Scharf is a widely recognised artist who has made a significant impact on the contemporary pop art scene. He is a versatile artist who has worked in different mediums such as painting, sculpture, mural, performance art, video art, and other special projects.

    • His artwork has been displayed across the globe in renowned museums including the NSU Art Museum, Florida; Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul; Urban Nation Museum, Berlin; Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Portland Art Museum, Portland; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Dali Museum, Florida; MOCA, Los Angeles; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona.

    • 4 of the artist’s top 5 results at auction were achieved in the past 2 years, which is demonstrative of the ongoing strength of Scharf’s market. 

     

     

    i Kenny Scharf, ‘Kenny Scharf x Parley’, Parley.tv, 2021, online 

    • Provenance

      Parley for the Oceans, New York
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

353

Unique Surfboard

signed and numbered 'Tim Bessell 1/12 Kenny Scharf' on the reverse
spray paint on surfboard
195.6 x 50.8 x 6.4 cm. (77 x 20 x 2 1/2 in.)
Painted in 2021, this work is unique.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$450,000 - 650,000 
€52,700-76,100
$57,700-83,300

Sold for HK$406,400

Contact Specialist

Anastasia Salnikoff
Head of Mid-Season Sales
+852 2318 2014
anastasiasalnikoff@phillips.com
 

Thomas Perazzi
Head of Watches, Asia
+852 2318 2001
WatchesHK@phillips.com
 

Disruptors: Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Design and Watches

Hong Kong Auction 25 May 2023