Kinslow+final+installation

** Materiality and Production **
I was under the impression that the background/material of this work was on a "found object" that being the domino sugar advertisement from a grocery store however the fact that Christie's describes this piece as 18/47 and alludes to a number of artists proofs has me wondering if this was the original domino sugar ad or if its image was reproduced on another surface several times to create this work. The center portion however is a Wojnarowicz creation and silkscreened over top of the advertisement, this makes for an interesting clash/juxtaposition between the commercial "art world" of mass-produced images versus the outsider apocalyptic queer art of Wojnarowicz. Included below is Christie's lot description of the piece:

Lot Description DAVID WOJNAROWICZ True Myth [Domino Sugar] screenprint in colors, 1983, on thin wove paper, signed and dated in pencil, inscribed 'NYC', numbered 18/47 (there were also an unknown number of artist's proofs), published by the artist, with full margins, a few unobtrusive soft scuffs, a few soft handling creases, a short tear at the lower right margin edge, several soft pressure marks along the lower margin edge, otherwise in very good condition Scr. 30 7/16 x 22¾ in. (773 x 578 mm.) S. 34 x 25 in. (864 x 635 mm.)


 * Presentation and Market Value **

At auction, this piece sold for $2,390 on September 28, 2004. There is definitely a huge discrepancy in the “monetary” value of Wojnarowicz work. First off, this is because of the wide use of materials and different mediums he work in. For example, his most famous and iconic photographs have sold for $46,600 (the buffalo’s flying off the cliff print used for the U2 single” One) or $16,800 was fetched by a self-portrait photograph. His surrealistic/ avant-garde paintings are what fetched the highest prices at auction upwards of $79, 000 at most. This piece that I chose seems to be consistent with the price of his silk-screens (about two thousand to twenty-five hundred). The cheapest of his pieces recently for sale was a lot of two silkscreen prints which sold for $896 and are 1 of a series of 100 like them. Thus, while Wojnarowicz work is popular and critically acclaimed (it is most likely purchased by serious collectors) the prices are lucrative though perhaps not astronomical by art world standards. Additionally books of Wojnarowicz photographs and his writings have been published and are available at bookseller putting a more affordable spin on his work.

The color differentiation is very strong in this image. The black ink of the silkscreen stands out distinctly against the bright reds, whites, and yellows of the domino sugar logo/ advertisement. The fact that Wojnarowicz has silkscreened his image on top of the domino sugar poster gives the background a context integral to Wojnarowicz's image. The blurry almost fuzzy lines of the silkscreen present an abstract representation when compared with the sharp, fluid lines of the ad. Although this may not be one of Wojnarowicz's most compelling or well-known images I specifically chose it for this assignment because of the warring modalities of the images. The juxtaposition of the deontic is manifested in the silkscreened image while the original poster (though not of the artist's creation) presents an epistemic modality (see below for further elaboration of the significance).
 * Visual Grammar **

While I'm unsure whether or not this particular work is "theory-driven" it's definately safe to say as an artist, Wojnarowicz's voice is heavy handed and "message-driven." I believe the point he is trying to make in this image is the clash/ juxstposition of the commercial world of mass produced /unimaginative images (ordinary codified things such as sugar, a captitalistic monetary system, grocery shopping) versus the cartoonish imagined world consisting of two male babies holding hands (codified for homosexuality/queer sex/ outsider values), burning houses (chaos, destruction, breaking down of institutions), and rabid dogs (violence, realigning of loyalty, perhaps?).
 * Theory / Meaning **