Christopher Wool, Martin Kippenberger Self-Portraits, 2005

Christopher Wool

Martin Kippenberger Self-Portraits, 2005

Offset lithographic poster in colours on smooth wove paper.

36 × 24 inches

Exhibition posters are a great way to collect a piece of art history, from vintage prints advertising the first Impressionist salons to more recent posters celebrating Kerry James Marshall’s first museum retrospective. Many artists—including Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Keith Haring—are famous for designing their own exhibition posters, viewing these prints as an extension of shows at galleries and museums. When first released, these prints are often low in cost (or free entirely), but they can rise in value when the featured artist grows in popularity. For example, Lichtenstein’s exhibition poster Shipboard Girl (1965), which might have sold for $5 or $10 at his opening show at Leo Castelli Gallery, has since reached over $50,000 at auction.

This poster designed by Christopher Wool was created on the occasion of the Martin Kippenberger exhibition in 2005 at Luhring Augistine - their mutual gallery. Wool has cited Kippenberger as one of his profoundest influences, Kippenberger was a radical German artist who achieved fame in the 1980s; his work challenged the properties of painting and, as gallerist Friedrich Petzel once described, “hailed the productivity of failure.” Wool designed a number of posters for Kippenberger’s exhibitions over the years. Unframed and in very good condition.