Million-dollar doodles: look, but no snaps
On Sunday in Hong Kong, an artwork depicting a super-flat painting of a surly, glaring girl with large green eyes, barefoot and dressed in a red dress sold for $25m at Sotheby’s. The work,
Knife Behind Back, is arguably the most famous image created by Japanese street artist Yoshimoto Nara and smashed the previous auction record for his work by a staggering $21m.
It has also had unforeseen consequences for the owners of Niagara, a cult punk bar in New York’s East Village. A decade ago, while in town for a gallery show, Nara decided to unwind after installing his show by having a few drinks at Niagara.
Suitably unwound and filled with sudden inspiration, the artist drunkenly began to doodle some of his signature figures on the walls leading to the bar’s toilets. He signed and dated the works and headed off into the night where, still under the influence of alcohol and artistic inspiration, he decided to scribble some graffiti on the walls of a nearby subway station and was promptly arrested for his efforts.
Nara spent the night in jail and had to be bailed out by friends to make it to his opening at the Marianne Boesky Gallery.
In the 10 years since, Nara has become one of the most recognised and sought-after artists in pop culture, with his work produced in multiple forms across the world and his auction prices skyrocketing accordingly. His Niagara doodles remained where he had left them and the owners of the bar perhaps realising that these were more than just the scribblings of an excited, drunken patron preserved them by placing glass screens over them to protect them.
Picasso drew a doodle on a restaurant napkin in lieu of payment and now Nara’s appreciation of the beverages and atmosphere of Niagara are estimated by experts to be worth as much as $5m.
In spite of renewed interest after Nara’s record-breaking auction result on Sunday, a bartender at Niagara told CNN the establishment has no plans to sell them and Nara himself is rumoured to be unhappy at any suggestion that they might feeling that they are site-specific reminders of his wild night out in the Big Apple a decade ago.
That has not stopped others from selling site-specific works by million-dollar street artists such as Banksy, who has seen punters cutting out wall works in LA, Wales and New Orleans.
For now though, if you go down to Avenue A in the East Village you can find Niagara and its Nara doodles and appreciate them while imbibing. Just don’t snap any pics of them as a writer for gothamsite.com recently discovered when, after taking a photo, he found himself swiftly removed from the premises and trying to argue with security on the sidewalk.
Whether Nara’s work will ensure that Niagara continues to survive without having to sell them remains to be seen.