Carl Andre, Zinc: Historic Ace Gallery poster (Hand Signed by Carl Andre), 2007

Carl Andre

Zinc: Historic Ace Gallery poster (Hand Signed by Carl Andre), 2007

Offset lithograph poster (hand signed by Carl Andre)

Hand signed in white marker by Carl Andre

Unnumbered

48 × 29 1/2 inches

Unframed

Offset lithograph poster
This oversized, dramatic poster is hand signed in white marker by Carl Andre lower right front
Provenance: Acquired from the sale of the bankruptcy estate of the famed ACE Gallery
Unframed
In the 1960s and 1970s, ACE Gallery was considered one of Los Angeles’ few blue chip galleries, at a time when New York remained the center of the commercial art world. It was founded by the charismatic impresario Douglas Chrismas, who opened his own frame shop and gallery in Vancouver at the age of only 17. In the 1960s, he would bring renowned American artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Carl Andre, Sol Lewitt, Bruce Nauman and Donald Judd to Canada. The gallery expanded to Los Angeles in 1967 at the sprawling former Virginia Dwan Gallery space in Westwood, exhibiting the work of trailblazing luminaries of the California art scene at the time, like Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman, Sam Francis, Robert Irwin, and Michael Heizer, among others. ACE Gallery then expanded to New York, and would soon become known for putting on museum-level exhibitions by emerging and internationally renowned artists. While in New York, the gallery’s presence and prestige was amplified by collaborations with major cultural institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Cartier Foundation (Paris). Under Chrismas' directorship, ACE Gallery even expanded overseas to art world hubs of Paris, Berlin, Beijing and Mexico City. Along the way, however, Chrismas got embroiled in innumerable financial scandals and lawsuits; over the years he was dogged by accusations of theft, embezzlement, and all manner of shady business practices including selling artworks he didn’t own, failing to pay artists, failing to honor agreements with collectors – even failing to pay rent. The ACE Gallery ended up declaring bankruptcy, and Chrismas would soon be accused of bankruptcy fraud. The FBI got involved and Chrismas ended up getting criminally charged. In July, 2024, the 80+ year old Christmas was convicted by a jury of embezzlement, and he awaits sentencing in Los Angeles – a sad coda to a storied career and a pioneering art gallery.

The present work, a hand signed poster of a 2007 Carl Andre exhibition, was acquired directly from the sale of the bankruptcy estate of ACE Gallery, and was part of the storied ACE Gallery collection. It is a collector’s item, especially when hand signed by Carl Andre, and it is most certainly a piece of art world history.

As we have purchased a collection of these hand signed posters, each signature is unique and the signature on the example you purchase may by slightly different than the one shown in the header images.