Donald Saff Art

It is hard to characterize John Baldessari’s varied practice—which includes photomontage, artist’s books, prints, paintings, film, performance, and installation—except through his ap...

Alberto"El Cuervo" Bustillos (Mexico, 1950) 'En mi húmeda dureza', 2007 etching, aquatint on paper Deponte 300 g. 12.3 x 10.3 in. (31 x 26 cm.) ID: CUR-105 Unframed

"Voices XXI" Aquatint Etching • Monoprint Image: 12”x 14” • Paper: 30”x 22” • 2001 Hand signed and numbered 1/1 on BFK Rives paper. Joe Novak (1930-2019) California Contemporary Minimalist. His work is about the exploration of color and light through abstraction, with tonal gradations that infuse them with a meditative quality. During the eighties and nineties, he painted large monochromatic color field canvases with tonal gradations and soft edges that infuse them with a meditative quality and a sense of movement. When illuminated they become glowing surfaces of color and light. His artistic background and work link him closely with the first generation abstract expressionists of the New York School. Major influences include Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, and his mentors, Peter Busa and Esteban Vicente, whom he met and befriended during the eighties while living and painting in East Hampton. During the nineties, while living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Novak initiated a project called "Light Emanations", in which he created digital computerized programs of changing light levels and configurations on a selection of his large paintings, dramatically illustrating the effect of light changes on color perception. Novak's body of work is extensive and include painting on canvas, panel and paper as well as monotypes, drawings, assemblages, mixed media and prints. He has often worked in series, focusing on a particular medium for years. Among these are "Meditations" (color pencil drawings), "Voices" and "Voices 2" (color aquatint etchings), "Echoes" (painting assemblage with minerals) and "Colors" (350 miniature panel paintings). In recent years his paintings have become more gestural, often with musical allusions. His work bears a relationship to the Light & Space Movement and Minimalism artists James Turrell, Larry Bell, Craig Kauffman, Billy Al Bengston, Peter Alexander, Laddie John Dill, Lita Albuquerque. these are also anticipative of the aquatint etching works by Anish Kapoor. Color Gradient, Abstract Art, Land Art. During the eighties and nineties, he painted large monochromatic color field canvases with tonal gradations and soft edges that infuse them with a meditative quality and a sense of movement. When illuminated they become glowing surfaces of color and light. Critic Christopher Knight wrote, Novak is an unabashed Color Field painter. His paintings and aquatints at Bert Green Fine Arts — the Santa Fe artist's third show there — feature works that will call to mind abstractions as diverse as those by Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko and Morris Louis and the landscape abstractions of Joe Goode. Novak's work is in many public and private collections, including numerous museum collections. He spent his last years living in Palm Springs. Selected Group Exhibitions Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago, Illinois "Joe Novak/Huck Lewis-Bennett: A Collaboration", Stephen Archdeacon Gallery, Palm Springs Melissa Morgan Fine Art...

Signed lower center, 'Gooch', for Gerald Gooch (American, born 1933) with number and limitation, '5/16' and dated 1965. Born in Mainington, West Virginia, Gerald Gooch first studied...

Donald Judd (American 1928-1994) Untitled, 1978-79. Aquatint on etching paper Signed and numbered 18/175 in pencil (there were also 15 artist's proofs) Published by the artist, with ...

Jenny Holzer, Ten for Ten: Celebrating Printed Matter, 10th-anniversary reading, New York, 1986, Announcement Card Rare, Jenny Holzer 1980s announcement card published on the occasion of Ten for Ten: Celebrating Printed Matter - the 10th-anniversary reading. The event was held at The Great Hall of Cooper Union on November 19, 1986. It featured John Giorno, Eric Bogosian, Constance DeJong, Richard Prince, Cookie Mueller, Roz Chast, Richard Nonas...

Hand signed, numbered and dated by the artist. From Eight Little Nudes (D'Oench & Feinberg 123-30). Etching with drypoint and aquatint in colors on BFK Riv...

This etching features a nude woman in high heels. Whipping her head to the left, she gazes intently past the viewer through a wild tangle of tresses. A sunhat with a bow nearly floats off her head, a tongue-in-cheek nod to modesty. Taking a wide stance, she straddles a comically large phallus, which springs up eagerly from the ground like a plant. Unusually, this etching was drawn directly onto the plate from the artist’s imagination and not from a life model. This spontaneity is visible around the woman’s bust and arms, where Oldenburg sketched several variations of her anatomy, giving the impression of a figure in movement. Beside her left breast, Oldenburg extends this halo of lines by cheekily doodling a small, floating phallus. Paper 36 x 27.5 in. / 91.4 x 69.2 cm. Plate 23.5 x 17.7 in. / 59.7 x 45.1 cm. Etching in one color on white, thick, slightly textured Wookey Hole handmade paper watermarked with the artist’s signature. Signed by the artist and dated 1975 lower right in pencil. The edition of 60 includes ten prints in each of six different ink colors: Indigo blue, vermilion, mauve, burnt sienna, astral blue, and yellow-ochre. A copy of each color is available: this listing is for one copy in the color of your choice. As recorded in the artist’s unpublished notes: “In 1974 an ambitious project for a suite of large-scale etchings was hatched with Paul Cornwall-Jones, for production by Maurice Payne in Petersburg Press’s new Pembroke studios in London. The project would consist of meticulous transcriptions of a certain group of drawings...

Jenny Holzer, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, 1986: Rare vintage original 1980s announcement card published on the occasion of Jenny Holzer's exhibition, "Under a Rock," at Bar...

Alberto"El Cuervo" Bustillos (Mexico, 1950) 'En tardes como esta', 2007 etching, aquatint on paper Deponte 300 g. 8.5 x 5.4 in. (21.5 x 13.5 cm.) ID: CUR-111 Unframed Hand-signed by ...

Dan Flavin Rare invitation poster for 1970 ACE Gallery exhibition, 1970 Letterpress and stencil on colored paper Not signed Frame included Floated in the original ACE gallery vintage wood frame. Measurements: Framed: 17.75" x 17.75" x 1.6 inches Poster: 16 inches x 16 inches Extremely uncommon letterpress and stencil poster designed by Dan Flavin on the occasion of his 1970 exhibition “Two Cornered Installations in Colored Fluorescent Light from Dan Flavin” at the legendary Ace Gallery in Los Angeles. The poster, like most exhibition invitations of that era (including those from the Leo Castelli gallery in New York) was undated, as these works were so much of the moment. This work was acquired directly from the collection of the ACE Gallery. Other than the present work, we've never seen another example of this collectors item anywhere in the world, on or off the market (If anyone is aware of others, we'd love to see!) More about the legendary ACE gallery, and the sale of some of its art collection from the bankruptcy estate, from where the present work was acquired: ACE Gallery founder Douglas Chrismas opened his own frame shop and gallery in Vancouver at the age of 17. His gallery became known as a venue where Vancouver artists could show alongside major New Yorkers, and get the feeling of belonging to a bigger scene. In the 60s and early 70s he brought artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Bruce Nauman, and Donald Judd to Vancouver, Canada. The gallery expanded to Los Angeles in 1967 at the former Virginia Dwan Gallery space in Westwood, and then further expanded to New York in 1994. The galleries were noted for doing museum-level exhibitions by up and coming and internationally renowned artists. While in New York the gallery’s presence was amplified by doing exhibitions in conjunction with cultural institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Cartier Foundation (Paris). Under Chrismas' directorship, ACE Gallery has had either offices or galleries in art centers outside of the United States, such as Mexico City, Paris, Berlin. and Beijing. In 1972, Chrismas mounted Robert Irwin’s installation Room Angle Light Volume at the first ACE/Venice, which opened at 72 Market Street in 1971. In 1977, ACE mounted exhibitions of work by Frank Stella and Robert Motherwell, along with Michael Heizer’s Displaced/Replaced Mass. Installed at ACE/Venice, the Heizer piece required that huge chunks be gouged out of the gallery floor to create recessed areas able to accommodate boulders. In April 2016, ACE Gallery emerged from a three-year bankruptcy proceeding under the leadership of Sam S. Leslie. In May 2016, founder Douglas Chrismas was terminated from all roles at the gallery. In July 2021, Douglas Chrismas was arrested by the FBI and charged with embezzlement. In May 2022, Douglas Chrismas was ordered to repay 14.2 million in ACE art sale profits, which were diverted to personal accounts. Chrismas is awaiting criminal trial in January, 2023. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. Controversies In a 1983 lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court, Rauschenberg sought $500,000 from Chrismas' Flow ACE Gallery; the artist won a $140,000 judgment in the suit in 1984. Eventually the two reconciled their differences and in 1997 Robert Rauschenberg insisted that ACE Gallery New York (in conjunction with the Guggenheim Museum) host his Retrospective. In 1986, Chrismas pleaded no contest after Canadian real estate developer C. Frederick Stimpson alleged that he had improperly sold work belonging to the collector, among them pieces by Andy Warhol and Rauschenberg. Under the terms of the settlement, Chrismas agreed to pay Stimpson $650,000 over a period of five years. He continues to work with the Stimpson family in handling their art interests. In 1989, ACE Gallery wanted to borrow a work by Judd along with Carl Andre's 1968 Fall, both owned by Count Giuseppe Panza, for an exhibition devoted to minimal art called The Innovators Entering into the Sculpture. Rather than shipping the two large scale works from Italy, Panza authorized ACE Gallery to refabricate the pieces in Los Angeles. In Panza's collection archives, there is a series of signed certificates signed by Judd that granted Panza broad authority over the works by Judd in his collection. These certificates "authorized Panza and followers to reconstruct work for a variety of reasons," as long as instructions and documentation provided by Judd were followed and either he or his estate was notified. This even included the right to make "temporary exhibition copies, as long as the temporary copy was destroyed after the exhibition; and the right to recreate the work to save expense and difficulty in transportation as long as the original was then destroyed." Miwon Kwon, in her account of site specificity: "One Place After Another," presents the account of ACE Gallery recreating artworks by Donald Judd and Carl Andre without the artist's permission. Andre and Judd both publicly denounced these recreations as "a gross falsification" and a "forgery," in letters to Art in America, however, the fabrication of the pieces were permitted by Panza Collection in Italy, the owner of the works. Despite the confusion surrounding the Panza refabrications, both Carl Andre and Donald Judd maintained a professional relationship with Douglas Chrismas and ACE Gallery. Andre showcased works at ACE Gallery in 1997, 2002, 2007, 2011 and present day. In 2007, Carl Andre's show entitled "Zinc" was exhibited at ACE Gallery in Beverly Hills. Donald Judd paid a visit to The Innovators Entering into the Sculpture exhibition at ACE Gallery and agreed to keep his sculpture in the exhibition. After the exhibition was over, Chrismas planned to sell the metal used for the re-fabrication of Judd's work for scrap metal but Judd wanted to own the re-fabrication for himself. ACE Gallery then sold the re-fabrication of Donald Judd's work to Donald Judd. After having consigned more than $4 million worth of art to ACE Gallery to sell in 1997 and 1998, the sculptor Jannis Kounellis filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2006, accusing Chrismas of keeping most of the profits of artworks and refusing to return the pieces that did not sell. According to the lawsuit, the primary agreement between Kounellis and Chrismas was oral. Chrismas returned all of Kouenllis' artwork, and did a full accounting of the proceeds from Kounellis' work—minus the expense of exhibiting it. The matter was resolved between the two of them and ACE Gallery still sells and exhibits Kounellis' work today. By 2006, Chrismas had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at least six times since 1982, barring most of his creditors from collecting the money immediately owed to them. Chrismas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect the gallery's extensive real estate holdings from the problematic landlord. The landlord of the Wilshire Boulevard space, Wilshire Dunsmuir Company, claimed that ACE owed back rent and penalties however, the claim was disputed by Douglas Chrismas. In court papers, Chrismas Fine Art claimed that it would cure "the pre-petition" debt by Feb. 1, 2000, and was asking the court to protect its right to remain in the property. A declaration filed by Douglas Chrismas characterized this leasehold as the business' primary asset. -Courtesy Wikipedia About Dan Flavin Dan Flavin (1933–1996) was a pioneer of Minimal Art. He rose to fame in the 1960s with his work with industrially manufactured fluorescent tubes, inventing a new art form and securing his place in art history. The exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Basel focuses on his works that are dedicated to other artists or make reference to certain events. Back in 1963 Dan Flavin mounted a single, industrial fluorescent light tube at a 45-degree angle to the wall of his studio declaring it art; the act was radical, and it still is. Indeed, it was owing to this action that standard commercial products would be introduced into art: The nascent Minimal Art of the era emphasised seriality, reduction and matter-of-factness. Somewhat ironically, while the autodidact Flavin never himself sought membership to this movement in art, he would, and quite literally, go on to become one of its most illustrious exponents. Flavin began work with fluorescent light tubes from the early 1960s on; arranged in so-called ‘situations’, he would then further develop them into series and large-scale installations. The colours and dimensions of the materials he used were prescribed by industrial production. Flooded in light, viewers themselves become part of the works: The space, along with the objects within it, are set in relation to each other and thus become immersive experiences of art triggering sensual, almost spiritual experiences. Flavin liberated color from the two-dimensionality of painting. The prevalent perception of his light works has, to date, largely centred on their minimalist, industrial aspect, and thus on the inherent simplicity of their beauty. The exhibition at Kunstmuseum Basel, by contrast, places emphasis on looking at Flavin’s oeuvre in a less familiar setting: His pieces, although initially without clearly recognisable signature, frequently make reference in their titles to concrete events, such as wartime atrocities or police violence, or are dedicated to other artists—as in the work untitled (in memory of Urs Graf...

A Red, from Three Aquatints, 1979 Aquatint on six copper plates printed on Rives BFK paper Paper Size: 40 3/4 x 40 3/4 inches (103.5 x 103.5 cm); Image Size: 33 x 33 inches (83.8 x 83.8 cm) Signed and titled lower left front Edition of 50, 10 AP, 3 TP Published by Parasol Press, New York Printed by Hidekatsu Takada, assisted by David Kelso, Crown Point Press, Oakland, California Robert Mangold (born October 12, 1937) is an American minimalist artist. He is also father of film director and screenwriter James Mangold. Mangold first trained at the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1956-59, and then at Yale University, New Haven, (BFA, 1961; MFA, 1963). In 1961 he married Sylvia Plimack, and they moved to New York. In the summer of 1962 Mangold was hired as guard at the Museum of Modern Art. Mangold's work challenges the typical connotations of what a painting is or could be, and his works often appear as objects rather than images. Elements refer often to architectural elements or have the feeling architecture to them. He almost always works in extensive series, often carried through both paintings and lithograph works on paper. Mangold’s early work consisted largely of monochromatic free-standing constructions. In 1968 he began employing acrylic instead of oil painting, rolling rather than spraying it on Masonite or plywood grounds. Within the year, he moved from these more industrially oriented supports to canvas. In 1970 he began working with shaped canvases and within the year began brushing rather than spraying paint onto canvas. Mangold made his first prints in 1972 at Crown Point Press and has made prints throughout his career, working with Pace Editions and Brooke Alexander Editions. In 1965, the Jewish Museum in New York held the first major exhibition of what was called Minimal art (Minimalism) and included Robert Mangold. In 1967, he won a National Endowment for the Arts grant and in 1969, a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1971, he had his first solo museum exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. Major museum exhibitions of his work have since been held the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (1974), the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1982), Hallen für Neue Kunst in Schaffhausen (1993), and Musée d’Orsay in Paris (2006). He has been featured in the Whitney Biennial four times, in 1979, 1983, 1985, and 2004. His work is related to Geometric Abstraction. Select Exhibitions Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra: Extended Drawing, Bonnefantenmuseum Accrochage: Donald Judd, Louise Lawler, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Mangold, Galerie Greta Meert, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Robert Mangold, Robert Ryman, Andrea Rosen Gallery, NY Tara Donovan, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, James Siena: Minimalist Prints, Augen Gallery, Portland Modulated Abstraction: Josef Albers, Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Fred Sandback, Richard Tuttle, Brooke Alexander Editions, New York, NY Drawings from the 1970’s, Mel Bochner, Robert Mangold, Robert Moskowitz, Fred Sandback, Richard Tuttle, Lawrence Markey, New York, NY Systematic: Anne Appleby...