It’s trucking art

ARTWORK FEATURING AN MAN TRUCK FROM THE 1980s headlines an online auction run by international art dealer Christie’s this month.

They’re not just any old pictures – they’re screen prints created by iconic American pop artist Andy Warhol.

Christie’s estimates that the series – being offered as a highlight of its Prints & Multiples Online-Only Sale, from September 16-28 – will sell for between £50,000 and £70,000 (approximately $NZ98,400-$NZ137,790).

The late Warhol was commissioned to produce a trucking-oriented artwork in 1985 by the German Federal Road Haulage Association.

German art dealer Hermann Wünsche was the co-publisher, having been one of the first gallerists to introduce Warhol’s work to Germany. In 1976 he arranged for Warhol to make a portrait of Willy Brandt – Germany’s first post-World War 2 Social-Democratic Chancellor.

He then went on to commission a number of other Warhol works, including this series – ordered by the Road Haulage Association to mark its hosting of the 20th World Congress of the International Road Transport Union in Frankfurt in 1986.

Warhol chose to do four screen prints – repeating an image of a MAN F8 19.361, which was one of the most popular trucks on German roads in the ‘80s.

Says Christie’s: “The subject was very much in line with Warhol’s practice to work with everyday objects and images, such as soup cans, washing powder boxes, advertising posters, and iconic figures – real or fictional.

“The image of a cargo truck combined a certain quotidian blandness with charisma and visual force. After some experimentation with the lines and colours, Warhol and the publishers produced a set of four prints in different colour combinations, with backgrounds in yellow, blue, red and black.”

These were printed in an edition of 60 impressions respectively, plus a small number of proofs and “not for sale” impressions.

T&D