Greetings from Milan and the MIART Art Fair!!
I have been given the opportunity to acquire these works before the fair opens. These are the new works by Rob Pruitt. They are very good/extremely attractive works while also being sweet endearing and represent Pruitts most sought after body of work. Its unusual for him to do Panda work in this scale. Please consider these immediately. A few are on reserve but e can probably jump the line if we have a firm offer, At the very least we will be in the first spot after refusal. These will not be available tomorrow once the fair opens. Please carefully consider these, they are beautiful and something which will maintain and build value for the future.
Rob Pruitt is a contemporary American artist. Translating personal experience into broader political statements, Pruitt's work is eclectic and ironic, often striving to achieve a spectacle while retaining a sense of social, cultural, or artistic critique. Perhaps best known for his Panda paintings, he creates large-scale canvases featuring pandas rendered in black-and-white glitter. Describing his own work as populist, Pruitt has said that his pieces are “basically blown-up versions of dining table craft projects.” He continues, “I’ve really enjoyed letting the world know that not everything is so mystified or so regulated to expertise—that you can make something really beautiful with a little ingenuity and some supplies from Michael’s.” Spanning the disciplines of painting, sculpture, photography, and performance, Pruitt's practice often bridges the gap between art and life, and has been met with both critical and commercial success. Born on May 17, 1964 in Washington, D.C., he went on to study at the Corcoran College and the Parsons School. He has regularly exhibited with Gavin Brown's Enterprise in New York, and has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the Aspen Art Museum, and LAND in Los Angeles, among others.
Pandas
In 2001 Pruitt showed the first of the glittery panda paintings that would become his trademark. He explains his choice of subject matter thus: “I see it as a kind of corporate damage control -- like trying to market Perrier after they found benzene in it, or Firestone tires after they exploded. I was a reviled figure, but everybody loves a panda.” He remembers childhood visits to the giant pandas at the National Zoo. Pruitt has made many versions his panda painting using different techniques and stylizations of the same subject matter.
Critic Michelle Grabner analyzes the panda project thus: “The paintings' clichéd imagery neutralizes their real endangered status making us less culpable in the creatures' pending extinction. And therein lies the beauty of the clichéd image." She goes on, "This appropriation of similes, once strictly the providence of kitsch, has nothing to do with blurring the distinctions between high and low. Instead, rainbows and butterflies have come to symbolize a magical new world where order is without hierarchies, edification is without snobbishness[…]Pruitt produces his art without the slightest glance of irony. He makes glamorous and admirable our drive for worldly success while commiserating with our search for inner virtue.” Although the paintings are designed and tightly crafted, they are imperfect; the artist’s hand is evident. His use of glitter has been compared to Andy Warhol's diamond dust, but Pruitt describes his own work as “basically blown up versions of dining table craft projects... I’ve really enjoyed letting the world know that not everything is so mystified or so regulated to expertise—that you can make something really beautiful with a little ingenuity and some supplies from Michael’s.”
Pruitt collaborated with Jimmy Choo in 2012 to create a line of shoes and handbags featuring panda bears and animal prints.
In 2013 Pruitt installed his "Last Panda" show at Gavin Brown's defunct bar, the Passerby. The space, which was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, provided an apocalyptic setting for his rainbow-colored work.
It’s a solo booth of his heart shaped panda’s.
Small - $20,000
Medium - $45,000
Large - $55,000
There are only ten paintings in total. They are more gold in person. Below is an image of the stand where you can see the reflective quality better.