Provenance

Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt; Private collection, Europe
Catalogue Essay
Martin Kippenberger: But somehow one is sincere. One really wants to tell just heart and blood, and about the gastric acid. One just tries to do justice to everything. One wants to reach the people. In fact, one is a small priest, isn’t one? So, somehow, parson—parson? Pastor—I’m a pastor. And pastor means translated…
Jutta Koether: Shepherd.
Martin Kippenberger: Shepherd. Yeah. And somehow I have something like it, haven’t I? I’m the holy Saint Martin. There is the half-half-half, isn’t it? Everybody should have it nice and warm in his corner. Yeah. In the calm corner [blows into the microphone]. We’re all searching for it, and if you know where it is, then you may rent it—at first [laughs]. That’s exciting. That’s dynamic. And that’s what I’ve already been when I was a kid, no matter whether it was with alcoholism or with drugs or something else. I’ve always been soooo…fast; always watched the sky too. Looked out the window at school, so I wasn’t quite concentrated—though, of course, very concentrated in other matters—watching!
(J. Koether, ed. “One has to be able to take it! Excerpts from an interview with Martin Kippenberger by Jutta Koether, November 1990 – May 1991,” Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective, Cambridge, 2008, p. 320)

In his short life, Martin Kippenberger created a unique, provocative body of work centered on the role of the artist in culture that has established him as one of the most significant and influential artists of his generation. In his diverse practice, the artist could be inspired by anything he encountered to create a work of art as a painting, work on paper, sculpture, invitation or poster.Taking on the accepted high art of painting, Kippenberger found the perfect self-reflective platform to question everything about what it means to be an artist and the creative act of making art itself.With his famously larger-than-life personality, he took on the role of provocateur.
"The boundaries between art and life, public and private, were not so much traversed in Kippenberger’s enterprise as they were destabilized through his embrace of their contradictions. That instability is fundamental to his challenge to the spectator. To encounter a work by Kippenberger is to experience the discomfort and embarrassment of getting too close, of knowingmore than one would wish to know or admit, of confronting something that is banal and annoying, that dismisses received notions of right or wrong. His work is not simply about getting to the truth or unearthing dirty secrets, but about uncovering the mechanisms that produce meaning and the ways in which they define the role and position of the artist,"
(A. Goldstein, “The Problem Perspective,” Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective, Cambridge, 2008, p. 40).
In his paintings of the mid-1980s, Kippenberger continued to explore identity on a personal, regional and national level, dealing with subjects such as Socialism, Communism and even Nazi history. In the present lot, New York zum Russisch Abbinden (NYZRA), 1985, the artist takes on the subject of the Cold War which had reached a critical moment in this time period. The painting contains the romantic image of the NewYork skyline split between four canvases joined together. The gaps between the canvas suggest that there is something disjointed, fragile, or perhaps even corrupt within this symbol of Western capitalism and power.
In his typically antagonistic fashion, Kippenberger talks about the United States:
"Well, the one and only core of Americans’ identity was film and music, respectively—which, meanwhile, have been lost, been sold to Japan. The USA once again lost everything because they’ve always done everything wrong. First they got themselves the Bubus, then, destroyed the red Indians, lost a war here and there, fought against each other, lost again, hostage liberation: crashed into each other’s helicopters, and so on. Now they are hanging around in the Gulf in order to distract whoever. The only things which were left clean were football and the entertainment industries, only that these things are lame by now and Michael Jackson belongs to Japan. So they sold their whole identity. And in order to divert themselves, maybe to come up with some “new” identity too, they just bought Jaguar, a British company, which indeed has no business being in America. The mere design is so very inappropriate for the USA. These are all interplays that don’t have anything to do with any tradition. There they are, celebrating independence from England, and, on exactly that day, they buy Jaquar. It’s all rubbish, really, what they do. This is another reason why I had to go [from New York] to L.A.: to check this out even more,"
(Ibid, p. 311).

6

Martin Kippenberger

New York zum Russisch Abbinden (NYZRA)

1985

Oil and silicone on canvas in four panels.
60 1/4 x 72 in. (153 x 183 cm) overall.

Estimate
$400,000 - 500,000

Contemporary Art Part I

14 May 2009, 7pm
New York

1
Sherrie Levine
Black Newborn
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $110,500
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2
Aaron Young
Burn Out (California Is a Garden of Eden, A Paradise for You and Me, But Believe or Not)
Estimate $35,000 - 45,000
Sold for $60,000
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3
Banks Violette
Not Yet Titled (Microphone Stand)
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $56,250
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4
Florian Maier-Aichen
Untitled
Estimate $80,000 - 100,000
Sold for $104,500
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5
Rosemarie Trockel
Ohne Titel
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $206,500
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6
Martin Kippenberger
New York zum Russisch Abbinden (NYZRA)
Estimate $400,000 - 500,000
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7
Dan Flavin
Untitled (“Monument” for V.Tatlin) 22
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $458,500
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8
Andreas Gursky
Untitled IX
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $278,500
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9
Sherrie Levine
Fountain (Buddha)
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $446,500
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10
Robert Gober
Untitled
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
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11
Mike Kelley
Estral Star
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $98,500
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12
John Baldessari
Person with Pillow: Desire/Lust/Fate
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $290,500
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13
John McCracken
Untitled (Blue Wedge)
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $206,500
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14
Ed Ruscha
Portland to Memphis
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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15
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (White Butterfly, Blue MG)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $386,500
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16
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
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17
Donald Judd
Untitled 88-27
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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18
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $170,500
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19
Adriana Varejão
Linha Equinoctial III (Equatorial Line III)
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $74,500
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20
James Rosenquist
Untitled #1 (Neiman Marcus)
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $422,500
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21
John Chamberlain
Mayonnaise Voice
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
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22
Philip Guston
Anxiety
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,082,500
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23
Yue Minjun
Backyard Garden
Estimate $500,000 - 600,000
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24
Cecily Brown
Suddenly Last Summer
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $662,500
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25
Zeng Fanzhi
Little Boy
Estimate $250,000 - 300,000
Sold for $446,500
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26
Matthew Barney
Cremaster 5: The Queen’s Menagerie
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $98,500
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27
Johannes Kahrs
Silent Depression
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $158,500
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28
Tracey Emin
When I Think about Sex …
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $56,250
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29
Richard Phillips
Fighter (After Rene Moncada)
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
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30
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
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31
Paul McCarthy
Green Grey Michael Jackson 1
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $122,500
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32
Robert Rauschenberg
Wooden Rays (Galvanic Suite)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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33
Anselm Kiefer
Schweres Wasser (Heavy Water)
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $230,500
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34
Sol LeWitt
Wall Drawing #41
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $254,500
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35
Wang Guangyi
Porsche
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $278,500
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36
Feng Zhengjie
Chinese Portrait L Series 2006 No.10
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $128,500
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37
Suhasini Kejriwal
Untitled 05
Estimate $30,000 - 40,000
Sold for $52,500
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38
Mark Tansey
Reader
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $482,500
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39
Elizabeth Peyton
Genuina y Pura
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
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40
George Condo
Large Reclining Smoker
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $194,500
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41
Richard Prince
Untitled (Check Painting) # 6
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
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42
Jyothi Basu
Order Breaks from Within
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $80,500
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43
Kehinde Wiley
Female Prophet Anne, Samuel’s Mother
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $52,500
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Contemporary Art Part I

14 May 2009, 7pm New York

Create your first list.

Provenance

Catalogue Essay

6

Martin Kippenberger

New York zum Russisch Abbinden (NYZRA)

Contemporary Art Part I

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14 May 2009, 7pm
New York