Inevitable Objects is pleased to present an exhibition of unique objects associated with some of the most influential and important artists of the last two centuries.  Referencing Josef Albers, Yoko Ono, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Paul Gauguin, and Roy Lichtenstein, this exhibition features a collection of exceptionally rare treasures.

Homage to the Square is an original silkscreen print reproducing a 1963 painting of the same name by Josef Albers’ [German-American, 1888-1976].  This impression was published in the 1964 exhibition catalog Hard-Edge, by Galerie Denise Rene, to accompany a Parisian exhibition.  The image was printed separately from the text, using the silkscreen technique favored by the artist, and was then hand-tipped into the completed catalog.  The Hard-Edge catalog was a noteworthy publication, and included text by the art critic Lawrence Alloway, with additional text by many of the featured artists including Albers, Jean Arp, Sophie Tauber-Arp, and Victor Vasarely.

From Yoko Ono [Japanese, born 1933] we present this rubber stamp that formed part of her 2003 Deitch Projects exhibition, Odyssey of a Cockroach.  The stamp was made to the artist’s specifications in wood and rubber, and has been framed with a sample impression using traditional Japanese sumi ink.  In the 2003 exhibition this stamp was one of many that the artist made available as gifts for visitors.  The IMAGINE PEACE stamps formed a connection to her earlier works and an optimistic counterpoint to the exhibtion’s exploration of cruelty, death, disconnection, and war.  In the artist’s words, “...the true reality of what our dreams and nightmares have created." 

Two of the most important artists of the twentieth century, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff [Bulgarian, 1935-2020] and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon [French/Moroccan, 1935-2009], formed the duo Christo & Jeanne-Claude.  This small swatch of bright orange fabric is a fragment of one of their most ambitious and important works, The Gates, Central Park, New York.  The 2005 public installation was the culmination of an artistic vision that was over 25 years in the making. 

Another rare and peculiar object in the exhibition is a framed fibrous seed pod, from Tahiti, French Polynesia.  According to a local tradition, seedpods of this type were used as paintbrushes by Paul Gauguin during his time living and working on the island.  He lived there intermittently during the period from 1891 until 1903, with his experiences in that part of the world having inspired the most mature and visionary artworks of his career. 

In honor of Roy Lichtenstein [American, 1923-1997] we present this work on paper by an unknown artist, After Masterpiece, circa 1973.  This one-of-a-kind artwork consists of hand-applied opaque paint on top of an apparent limited edition 1973 Styria Studio lithographic print by Lichtenstein, with his printed signature.  Some of the details of the original image and text have been altered by the unknown artist, making this work a personal perspective on the world famous image.  Styria Studio was a New York printing house that worked with Leo Castelli Gallery to produce limited editions for Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, and others.  Today, unaltered Styria Studio prints by Lichtenstein can be found in the Brooklyn Museum and the Princeton University Art Museum.  The canvas version of Masterpiece (1962) is currently in a private collection, having changed hands most recently in 2017 for $165 million.