Howard Kanovitz

Looking at Me (Signed twice with heart drawing and inscription)

1981

Chuck Close Phil, 1976 Limited Edition Print on Strathmore 3-Ply Paper. Pencil numbered 243/1000 on the verso. Artist's printed copyright name verso. Accompanied by original envelope...

Elizabeth Catlett Freedom or Slavery, (from the Paul Robeson portfolio), 1988 Color lithograph on wove paper Pencil signed, dated and numbered by the artist on the front from the lim...

Jasper Johns and Phong Bui Offset lithograph card of portrait of Jasper Johns by Phong Bui (hand signed and dated by Jasper Johns), 2008 Card depicting a portrait of Jasper Johns by ...

Mr. Brainwash Obama Superman, 2009 Offset Lithograph Poster Plate signed on lower right front 36 × 24 inches Unframed This Mr. Brainwash poster on gloss stock paper with a semi gloss...

Peter Saul Politics, 1985 Color lithograph on wove paper Hand signed, numbered X/X (apart from the regular edition of 25), and dated on the front Frame Included: matted and framed in...

Chuck Close Uniquely Signed, dedicated and inscribed vintage card, 1988 Thick card Boldly signed, dated, dedicated and inscribed in black ink on the front...

Yue Minjun, Backyard Garden Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 x 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in Roman numerals In mint condition, as acquired from the publisher PLEASE NOTE: Edition numbers could vary from the one shown in the pictures. The pictures shown are only for illustrative reasons, the piece is offered unframed. The print is mounted on double sheet of paper with a poem on one spread and print on the other. Backyard Garden belongs to the set of twenty lithographs from the “Snatched Ecstasy of Yue Minjun”, which comes as a limited edition of 130 rare books. The work of Yue Minjun is instantly recognizable with its uniform laughing faces, the artist's faces. Minjun creates various realities against which the laughing figures are rendered, thus creating ambiguous images, often with the sinister atmosphere, which comes as his personal cynical reaction to various social and political dimensions of contemporary Chinese realities. Immediately humorous and sympathetic, Yue Minjun’s paintings offer a light-hearted approach to philosophical enquiry and contemplation of existence. Yue’s self-portraits have been describe by theorist Li Xianting as “a self-ironic response to the spiritual vacuum and folly of modern-day China”, thus the acidic tones and commercialized vacuity of his works are used to underscore the insincerity of his figures’ mirth. “Art should be an expression of one's particular feelings and should be direct and deep. So I drew one person, and then added another and another until there were crowds of them. Then I felt my emotions to be fully expressed.„ —Yue Minjun YUE MINJUN Yue Min-Jun (born 1962, Daqing, China) is one of the leading Chinese artists. He is best known for oil paintings depicting formations of his laughing self-portraits in various settings. His iconography is easily recognisable, it challenges social and cultural conventions by depicting objects and political issues in a radical, abstract, ironic and cynical manner. Yue Min-Jun initially started painting as a hobby, subsequently he graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Hebei Normal University, China in 1985. In the 90s he joined an artist community in Yuan Ming...

Yue Minjun, Paean on Grassland Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 x 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered...

Yue Minjun, Ingres and I Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 × 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in Ro...

Yue Minjun, Backyard Garden Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 x 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in...

Yue Minjun, Remarkable People Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 × 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered ...

Yue Minjun, Fighting Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 x 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in Roman numerals In mint condition, as acquired from the publisher PLEASE NOTE: Edition numbers could vary from the one shown in the pictures. The pictures shown are only for illustrative reasons, the piece is offered unframed. The print is mounted on double sheet of paper with a poem on one spread and print on the other. In fantastical paintings populated with heightened, hysterical self-portraits, Yue Minjun satirizes contemporary society and art historical tropes. Yue paints himself in fluorescent hues with a gaping grin. He occasionally multiplies his likeness, making his compositions even more menacing; his style has made him a pioneer of China’s Cynical Realism movement. Yue’s influences include Chinese socialist realism, Surrealism, and European classical paintings. He studied oil painting at Hebei Normal University in Shijiazhuang and has exhibited in Hong Kong, Berlin, Shenzhen, Shanghai, London, Basel, and New York. Yue has been the subject of numerous institutional shows at venues such as the Macao Museum, the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, the National Art Museum of China, the Kunstmuseum Bonn, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Bern. “[...] I choose to paint laughter, to communicate a sense of pleasure and happiness, but actually, it hides a double perspective of drama and suffering.„ —Yue Minjun YUE MINJUN Yue Min-Jun (born 1962, Daqing, China) is one of the leading Chinese artists. He is best known for oil paintings depicting formations of his laughing self-portraits in various settings. His iconography is easily recognisable, it challenges social and cultural conventions by depicting objects and political issues in a radical, abstract, ironic and cynical manner. Yue Min-Jun initially started painting as a hobby, subsequently he graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Hebei Normal University, China in 1985. In the 90s he joined an artist community in Yuan Ming Yuan, a village near Beijing where he began to form his style and iconography. The paintings, sculptures, and installations of Yue Minjun feature uniform laughing pink faces, which appear to be self-portraits. Through various symbols, metaphors, signs, or through depictions of daily life the artist constructs various realities against which the laughing figures are rendered. "In my work, laughter is a representation of a state of helplessness, lack of strength and participation, with the absence of our rights that society has imposed on us." —Yue Minjun Yue became famous after his participation in the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999, which granted him access to international art. One of the best-known paintings by Yue Minjun and an icon for modern Chinese art and the Cynical Realism movement is Execution. It was painted in 1995 and is generally regarded as a reaction to the Tiananmen Square...