Art Market
Artsy Editorial
The Artists for Kamala benefit sale supporting the Harris Victory Fund, open on Artsy through October 8th, features an impressive array of works donated by leading contemporary artists. Below, we highlight some of the standout pieces and share insights from the artists.
This acrylic-on-canvas work is a part of Reggie Burrows Hodges’s “Seated Listener” series—a body of paintings that revel in serenity and contemplation, picturing people in moments of attentive listening. At the core of the works, Hodges has said, is “the presence of a human being offering you its full attention.” In Seated Listener: Nebuliss, a tiny white butterfly hovers before the sinuous figure of a woman, capturing a moment of quiet grace. The poetic imagery is built up from a black background, a signature style for which the California-born, Maine-based artist is acclaimed.
Catherine Opie, Untitled #12 (Windows), 2023
This work by Catherine Opie is part of a series of photographs she created in 2021 while she was the Robert Mapplethorpe Resident in Photography at the American Academy in Rome. Taken at the Vatican during the pandemic, the images reflect the remarkable freedom she had to explore the iconic site while it was uncharacteristically empty. Opie endeavored to photograph every window in the Vatican, producing works that consider transparency and authority, and the politics of seeing and being seen. The vacant Vatican becomes a poignant metaphor, inviting viewers to question structures of power.
Fred Tomaselli has often reflected on tumultuous news cycles by transforming the front page of the New York Times with gouache and collage. “I think that maybe the Times collages are quietly political, in that I can riff on anything I want, while the horrors of the world become the background buzz. Maybe I’m saying that the world may be going to hell, but I still keep painting,” Tomaselli has said.
This particular work memorializes Flaco the owl, who captured New Yorkers’ attention when he escaped from the Central Park Zoo in 2023 and roamed the city as a free bird for a year before his unfortunate death. Despite the outpouring of grief, Flaco’s story paled in comparison to other headlines at the time, snippets of which are seen in this work. The owl’s celebrity was emblematic of the small bright spots that the public gravitates towards in dark times.
Yvonne Wells’s narrative quilts often reflect on American history and politics. This joyful piece, Vote Rally, shows citizens eager to participate in the democratic process. The artist has said of her practice, “The materials I use have their own stories and histories…the quilts talk to me, and I listen.” Wells’s intuitive, hand-sewn textiles capture the spirit of community and activism, in this case celebrating the power of civic engagement, through dynamic, playful compositions.
Kay WalkingStick’s landscapes reflect the enduring connection between Native American heritage and the Earth. She has described the act of painting the landscape as “a dialogue with the mythic, the spiritual, with that with which transcends our bittersweet daily lives.” In Athabasca Glacier I, she has imbued a majestic landscape of snow-dusted mountains and valleys with abstract designs that come from the Native American people of that land. The resulting scene carries the weight of both personal and geological history.
Hank Willis Thomas, Fragile, Democracy, Handle with Care, 2024
Hank Willis Thomas’s new screenprint, from an edition of 50 unique variations, is a stark, cobalt-blue reminder of the precarious state of democracy. Riffing on familiar “handle with care” packing stickers, the work highlights the need for vigilance in protecting human rights, and urges viewers to reflect on the fragility of democracy and the care required to preserve it. Thomas is known for text-based works that similarly expose urgent, salient truths.
Jenny Holzer, Selection from Truisms: There are too few…, 2023
Jenny Holzer’s enduring series of “Truisms” is known to distill complex social issues into concise statements. Though these bitingly candid proclamations have taken various forms—appearing on garments, electronic signs, and floors—the benches and footstools, such as this one, are some of the most beloved. In this work, a blue-hued granite footstool is engraved with the message “There are too few immutable truths today.” Holzer’s benches have recently been shown in her retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum and at Art Basel’s Unlimited sector in June.
Katherine Bernhardt’s vibrant and improvisational painting Man in the Mirror features the familiar Pink Panther, a recurring character in her work over the years. “I am excited to participate in Artists for Kamala and contribute a work to benefit the Harris Victory Fund,” Bernhardt said. “So many important issues are at stake in this election, including health care, reproductive rights, and our democracy itself.”
George Condo, Women Are Beautiful, 2024
“I took the title of this piece from Garry Winogrand’s seminal series ‘Women are Beautiful,’” George Condo said of this crayon-and-wash work on paper. “I am hoping that Kamala Harris will restore the faith that we put in women in our society.” The work incorporates Condo’s typical, playful approach to deconstructing and reconfiguring human heads.
Jeff Koons, American Flagpole (Gazing Balls), 2024
Jeff Koons’s American Flagpole (Gazing Balls) is just what its title suggests—a 25-foot-tall flagpole bearing the American flag, alongside a trio of the artist’s famed gazing balls, in red, white, and blue. “The gazing ball, for me, has always represented generosity,” Koons said, “so I incorporated them into [this work] to celebrate the generosity of the American people.” The piece is an edition of one, plus one artist proof, making it an exceptionally rare example of the American emblem.
