Iconic Shepard Fairey Work Previewing For Auction At SANTA MONICA AUCTIONS

Hope 2008, Andy Warhol’s Instant Warhol Polaroid Collages, And Other Works Up For Auction Starting Saturday, May 6 at 1 pm.

SANTA MONICA AUCTIONS is set to host a Two Day auction: photography Saturday, May 6  and Modern & Contemporary Fine Art: Sunday, May 7, and the highlight of the event on Sunday is the auction of a masterwork by contemporary artist Shepard Fairey, HOPE, 2008.

The modern and contemporary art sale on Sunday, May 7, 2023, will include the original work by Shepard Fairey of HOPE, 2008. This is the FIRST and ONLY canvas artwork made of the iconic HOPE image specifically created for the posters used in Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential campaign. Two later larger versions were created: One resides in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery, and the other sold at Heritage Auctions in May 2022 for $735,000. The one at SANTA MONICA AUCTIONS is estimated at $1,000,000 – $1,200,000. We have also acquired the original unique framed stencil used to make this canvas by Shepard Fairey which is estimated at $400,000 – $500,000.

The artwork, a mixed-media stenciled collage on canvas, is signed and dated by Shepard Fairey and measures 48 x 31 inches. The framed artwork measures 49 3/4 x 33 inches.

SANTA MONICA AUCTIONS 2-Day Spring Auction will begin on May 6, 2023, featuring 130+ works of Fine Art Photography, with 100% of the hammer for the last 28 lots to be donated to the Focus on AIDS Foundation, which is a 501c3. The modern and contemporary art sale on May 7, 2023, will include the iconic HOPE artwork by Shepard Fairey.

The Instant Warhol collages will be included in the auction and consist of a total of 66 photographs, including 15 collages and one individual Polaroid, all commissioned by Hugh Hefner and first published in Playboy in August 1974. These are likely the first fine art Polaroid collages ever created.

The works remained in the Playboy collection for two decades before being de-accessed. Three of the four framed collages were featured and exhibited at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh in 2008-2009, with a total insured value of $300,000. The four framed collages are now being auctioned as a complete set for the first time, having been acquired by the consignors over the past few decades.

Included with the collages is a copy of the 1974 Playboy to Warhol Photo Assignment, a copy of the 1974 Playboy Check to Andy Warhol, and an original letter from Playboy explaining the Warhol photographs. Also included are other receipts, the original Playboy magazines from 1974 and 1990 featuring the photographs, and a copy of the 1974 embossed self-portrait of Andy Warhol in a mirror, which Warhol shot for Playboy using a Polaroid camera and which was published in both 1974 and 1990.

The set of collages is estimated to sell for between $400,000 and $500,000 at the upcoming auction. Interested buyers can preview the collages, as well as other items in the auction, live and online at the Santa Monica Auctions website.

Following our auction on Day 1, we will be holding a modern and contemporary art auction featuring over 100 works by artists including: Shepard Fairey, Andy Warhol, Mary Corse, Keith Haring, Carlos Almaraz, Jean Michel Basquiat, David Hockney, GRONK, Sam Francis, Eric Orr, Robbie Conal, Billy Al Bengston, Alex Katz, Ed Moses, Jenny Holzer, Christo, John Baldessari, Sterling Ruby, Man Ray, Miró, Chagall, Robert Indiana, Ed Ruscha, and Tom Wesselmann.

You can preview these works live and online NOW along with other works at their auction website: smauctions.com.