Gallery of Featured Items: Bansky, Basquiat, Crumb, Gysin, Dylan, LaVigne, Mrabet & more

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[ ART: Jean Michel Basquiat] Large card announcing a 1986 show at the Akira Ikeda Gallery in Tokyo. Prints a color reproduction of an untitled painting by Basquiat. Boldy signed by Basquiat who has inscribed it "For Anders 86." Tastefully matted and framed under glass. Fine (10" x 7" framed to 12.5" x 9.5"). SKB-13517

[ROCK] DYLAN, Bob & GORDON, Jeff. I and I. n.p.: SOOJ, 2007. Large 4to. Broadside. First edition. Illustrated with a painting by Jeff Gordon. The lyrics to this song by Dylan nicely printed on Arches with Gordon's painting reproduced in color. One of 145 numbered copies signed by the artist and publisher, Jeff Gordon. This item is not a bootleg but an authorized printing---the smallest limitation of any official Dylan item---destined to be a "stopper" for collectors. As new. SKB-12834

[ART: Andy Warhol] Mammoth, double-sided b&w poster announcing Warhol's 1982 photography exhibition at the Moderna Museet. One side features Warhol's photo of Bianca Jagger shaving her arm pit, the other a shot of Halston posing with fake nipples and lips. Signed by Warhol (on the preferred Bianca side). Fine (39.5" x 27.5"). We have seen only a couple of signed copies of this poster. SKB-13514

[ART] BANKSY. Di-Faced tenner, a 10 pound note designed by Banksy. Very realistic, colorful note created by Banksy with a portrait of Princess Diana on the front and the motto: "I Promise to Pay the Bearer on Demand the Ultimate Price." The back features Darwin's image and the statement: "Trust No One." These were handed out only at the preview night of the Santa's Ghetto exhibition in 2004. As new. SKB-13446

[ART] GYSIN, Brion. Original untitled painting. Oil on canvas-covered board, ca. 1957. A desert landscape of brown sand and rock outcroppings with a bright blue sky and two Bedouins walking in the right foreground. Signed "Brion" in the corner. One of Gysin's series of desert paintings that he did early in his visit to Morocco. Gysin's desert paintings appear in the first section of Brion Gysin: Tuning in to the Multimedia Age accompanied by Gregory Corso's essay "On Gysin's Desert Paintings" where he states that: "Gysin's desert paintings are pure magic." This painting has significant provenance having been a gift from Gysin to John Starr Cooke and his wife Mary. The Cookes befriended Gysin during their travels to Morocco where they invested in his famous 1001 Nights restaurant. They invited him to join them at their home in Algeria where Gysin spent 1955-56---a period during which he attended the birth of their son from whom we obtained this painting. Interestingly, John Starr Cooke went on to be a central figure in the sixties counterculture where he headed the Psychedlic Rangers, participated in early LSD experiments with Leary and others, and dispatched Michael Bowen to San Francisco to organize the Human Be-In (see Acid Dreams by Martin Lee).

The painting measures 9" x 6" framed to 13" x 16" (few small chips to the original frame). Gysin works of this vintage are scarce. SKB 12899

[ART] LaVIGNE, Robert. Original oil painting titled "Painting.'' A colorful fantasy scene utilizing shades of orange, blue, brown and red. LaVigne was one of the original Beats in the Bay Area where he exhibited at the Batman Gallery and attended the Six Gallery reading. He was Peter Orlovsky's lover before Ginsberg saw Peter for the first time in LaVigne's full-length nude portrait of him. For the last 30 years Robert has been a Seattle artist who exhibits regularly and whose works are part of major institutional collections including the Smithsonian and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. He's illustrated books and broadsides by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Lew Welch, and many others, and was also the recipient of several prestigious awards for set design. A very pleasing example of LaVigne's work---titled, signed in full, and dated 1978/1979 on the verso. Fine (approx. 18" x 16"). Shipping at cost. SKB-12589

[ART: R. Crumb]  Zap, No. 1. [SF: Apex Novelties, 1967].  The rare first printing of the first underground comic ever published. The first printing was done by Beat poet and collage artist, Charles Plymell, with the entire issue devoted to work by R. Crumb. Though a reference guide states that 5,000 copies were printed, its infrequent appearance on the market suggests that Pam Plymell's statement that the print run was 1,500 is probably closer to being correct. A groundbreaking publication that ushered in the "underground comix" scene of the sixties, and introduced the work of it's preeminent artist, R. Crumb, whose characters have become mainstays of Popular Culture. This copy is CGC graded 7.5 which in comic grading parlance is the equivalent of "very fine minus." A bright, fresh copy of this iconic high spot from the sixties counterculture. SKB-12270

[ART] MRABET, Mohammed.  Untitled original color drawing by Mohammed Mrabet. A detailed, surreal rendering of human and animal faces drawn in black against a blue/purple background. Signed by Mrabet in 1981. William Burroughs said of Mrabet's drawings: "The art of Mohammed Mrabet cannot be called primitive, for the draftsmanship is quite sophisticated. On one hand, the paintings derive from the classical Arab tradition, as expressed in mosaics; there is also some resemblance to the spirit pictures drawn by Eskimo shamans." A mysterious and evocative drawing from this Moroccan artist and writer who is perhaps best known for his association with Paul Bowles. Fine (9" x 12").    SKB-12230

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