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Catalogue Essay
“Todd James is a guy who has always marched to the beat to his own drum. He has just always created this like super interesting paintings and drawings, you know. He brings you into his own world.” —— Pharrell Williams
Regarded by many as the quintessential American street artist, Todd James began his career painting in the subway system of New York under the name REAS. James has since achieved enormous commercial success as a designer and illustrator, working extensively with hip-hop musicians such as Pharrell Williams, Eminem, Iggy Pop, and the Beastie Boys. James’ images are often gleefully crude, delighting in the raunchy and the violent, resulting in arresting works which are utterly unapologetic.
The sprawling composition of flat lines and blocks of colour recall the later works of Henri Matisse, while James’ vivid palette and array of pop-culture references evoke the surrealism of Peter Saul. Through the mixture of new and old, graffiti and abstract, James proffers a landscape of infinite interpretative possibilities to be explored and discovered. Indeed, James’ career has seamlessly bridged the gap between the worlds of graffiti, commercial art, and fine art. The explosion of graphics, brimming with images taken from news and media, synthesises fantasy, sex, and comics, resulting in an absurd intermingling of slapstick cartoons - a truly American homage. Though James maintains that his work is not meant to be critical, recurrent motifs such as nude females, tanks, and anthropomorphic fighter planes, allude to the darker underbelly of contemporary society.
The current work exhibited at Hong Kong, AISHONANZUKA, Afternoon Delight, 12 September - 11 October 2014 Illustrating the character “Tit Wizard”, a motif reappearing throughout the artist's oeuvre, the current work, Chicken Fingers, was featured in James’ 2014 solo exhibition at AISHONANZUKA in Hong Kong. The voluptuous set of breasts resting under an erect wizard hat, coupled with a set of goofy eyes which gaze questioningly at the viewer, suggest some magical rearranging of the female anatomy for public consumption. The assortment of circles and triangles reduces the figure into quasi-abstraction. Yet, seemingly in defiance, the spindly chicken leg raises a middle finger, a clear marker of James’ dark humour.
James is the co-creator of Street Market, a major work of the post-graffiti movement that debuted at the Philadelphia ICA in 1999 and was expanded at Deitch Projects in New York in 2000. A re-creation of this work was the central installation of the LA MOCA’s record-breaking Art in the Streets exhibition a decade later.
Street Market by Barry McGee, Steve Powers and Todd James, exhibited at Art in the Streets, MOCA Los Angeles, 2011 Most recently, Todd James has had solo exhibitions at Javier Lopez & Fer Frances Gallery, Madrid in 2020, and another at Ross + Kramer Gallery, New York, March 2021. James’ paintings and installations have been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including both the 2001 and 2015 Venice Biennale. In addition, he has been exhibited at the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA; The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Geffen Contemporary, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA, USA; and Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA. His work is held in a number of important private and public collections including the MIMA MUSEUM Brussels, Belgium. James currently lives and works in New York, and is represented by AISHONANZUKA.
The Artist and Tit Wizard Provenance
AISHONANZUKA, Hong Kong
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2017Exhibited
Hong Kong, AISHONANZUKA, Afternoon Delight, 12 September - 11 October 2014
8
Chicken Fingers
signed 'TODD JAMES' lower right; further signed and dated 'TODD JAMES 2014' on the reverse
oil on canvas
76.4 x 61.5 cm. (30 1/8 x 24 1/4 in.)
Painted in 2014.
Estimate
HK$80,000 - 100,000
€8,700-10,900
$10,300-12,800
Sold for HK$138,600
Hin Hin Wong
Associate Specialist, 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
+852 2318 2013
hinhinwong@phillips.com
24/7: Online Auction
Online Auction 21 - 30 July 2021
1
Yukimasa Ida
End of today - 12/12 2018 Self Portrait -
Estimate HK$80,000 - 120,000
Sold for HK$693,000
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2
Joan Cornellà
Untitled #1
Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$1,008,000
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3
Matías Sánchez
Parodia
Estimate HK$70,000 - 90,000
Sold for HK$201,600
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4
Edgar Plans
Hero or Villain
Estimate HK$200,000 - 300,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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5
Maria Farrar
Brioche con Gelato
Estimate HK$100,000 - 150,000
Sold for HK$327,600
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6
This lot is no longer available.
7
Okokume
Cosmic Girl Head
Estimate HK$100,000 - 200,000
Sold for HK$403,200
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8
Todd James
Chicken Fingers
Estimate HK$80,000 - 100,000
Sold for HK$138,600
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9
Mr.
Happy
Estimate HK$320,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$403,200
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10
Chen Yingjie
Gravity LXX
Estimate HK$75,000 - 110,000
Sold for HK$163,800
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11
Yue Minjun
Untitled (Smile-ism No. 1-28)
Estimate HK$400,000 - 650,000
Sold for HK$567,000
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12
Liu Wei
Landscape No. 2
Estimate HK$600,000 - 800,000
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13
Javier Calleja
Prefacio
Estimate HK$300,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$604,800
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14
Javier Calleja
Indice
Estimate HK$300,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$441,000
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15
Javier Calleja
Hi
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$693,000
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16
Jonas Wood
Dad's Study 2
Estimate HK$280,000 - 350,000
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17
KAWS
SEEING
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
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18
Takashi Murakami & Virgil Abloh
Flower Belt
Estimate HK$350,000 - 450,000
Sold for HK$1,008,000
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19
Banksy
CND Soldiers
Estimate HK$150,000 - 250,000
Sold for HK$378,000
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20
Kenny Scharf
Krazy
Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$693,000
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21
Invader
TK-64
Estimate HK$220,000 - 320,000
Sold for HK$819,000
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22
This lot is no longer available.
23
KAWS
PIRANHAS WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING
Estimate HK$180,000 - 280,000
Sold for HK$277,200
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24
MADSAKI
Homage to Takashi Murakami Flowers
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$630,000
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25
Mr Doodle
Schoolyard Scrap
Estimate HK$100,000 - 200,000
Sold for HK$302,400
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26
Chiharu Shiota
State of Being (Children's Shoes)
Estimate HK$200,000 - 300,000
Sold for HK$504,000
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27
Kohei Nawa
PixCell-Maria #16
Estimate HK$380,000 - 550,000
Sold for HK$504,000
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28
Damien Hirst
Mickey (Blue Glitter)
Estimate HK$250,000 - 450,000
Sold for HK$315,000
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29
KAWS
ANKLE BRACELET
Estimate HK$150,000 - 250,000
Sold for HK$277,200
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30
Ayako Rokkaku
Hayaumare March
Estimate HK$70,000 - 90,000
Sold for HK$163,800
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31
Xu Qu
Currency War - Morocco 20 (Old)
Estimate HK$70,000 - 90,000
Sold for HK$138,600
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32
Zhao Zhao
Sky No. 13
Estimate HK$80,000 - 120,000
Sold for HK$214,200
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33
Ayako Rokkaku
"Magic Hand" Exhibition Carpet
Estimate HK$70,000 - 90,000
Sold for HK$176,400
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34
Gerhard Richter
Cage (P19-2)
Estimate HK$80,000 - 100,000
Sold for HK$176,400
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35
Gerhard Richter
Cage (P19-5)
Estimate HK$80,000 - 100,000
Sold for HK$176,400
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36
Yoshitomo Nara
Mori Girl
Estimate HK$60,000 - 80,000
Sold for HK$378,000
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