So bad its good - so good its bad - today's Boris auction 0

[Bronty]

Gay bath house ad.

Currently at 7k.    Will it crush the record for a painting by a living artist?    My bet is yes.   

It "goes off" (sploosh) in minutes.

(the dancing banana seems appropo  )

 

Edited April 24, 2018 by Bronty

[Bronty]

[Bronty]

MUAHAHAHAH new auction record for Vallejo!!   $40,000!!!    

The bidding was LONG and STRONG!

    Awesome!!

Edited April 24, 2018 by Bronty

[Pete Marino]

7 minutes ago, Bronty said:

MUAHAHAHAH new auction record for Vallejo!!   $40,000!!!    

The bidding was LONG and STRONG!

    Awesome!!

Apparently that ad made a lot of memories....

[Bronty]

13 minutes ago, Pete Marino said:

Apparently that ad made a lot of memories....

that's an auction I won't soon forget     Up there with watching the DK splash page go off

[PhilipB2k17]

Was Boris commissioned for this job? Or did they just buy the rights to the painting? 

[glendgold]

This piece, which is definitely campy, is part of a tragic history and that perhaps is why someone paid so much.  You may now return to your regularly scheduled homophobia. 

G

[Bronty]

12 minutes ago, glendgold said:

This piece, which is definitely campy, is part of a tragic history

G

I'm not going to address part of what you had to say because I don't think it warrants being addressed - I'll chalk it up to a difference in opinion - but I am interested in hearing about the history if you care to share it.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Bronty

[pemart1966]

2 minutes ago, Bronty said:

I'm not going to address part of what you had to say because I don't think it warrants being addressed - I'll chalk it up to a difference in opinion - but I am interested in hearing about the history if you care to share it.

Agreed - don't press buttons and then walk away 

[Sideshow Bob]

1 hour ago, Bronty said:

I'm not going to address part of what you had to say because I don't think it warrants being addressed - I'll chalk it up to a difference in opinion - but I am interested in hearing about the history if you care to share it.

During the height of AIDS epidemic/fear mongering, the City of New York shut down several bathhouses (including this one) as part of a "health" initiative. The closure was fought up to the New York Supreme Court and upheld. Knowing what we know now about the virus, particularly its transmission and treatment,  "tragic history" in retrospect is the nicest way to put it. As a piece of city/gay/AIDS history, the $40k seems justifiable. 

 

My apologies if I got any of this wrong or framed it incorrectly. Just trying to give some color to the comment as well as to the auction result. 

Edited April 24, 2018 by Sideshow Bob
Clarification

[JollyComics]

2 hours ago, Sideshow Bob said:

During the height of AIDS epidemic/fear mongering, the City of New York shut down several bathhouses (including this one) as part of a "health" initiative. The closure was fought up to the New York Supreme Court and upheld. Knowing what we know now about the virus, particularly its transmission and treatment,  "tragic history" in retrospect is the nicest way to put it. As a piece of city/gay/AIDS history, the $40k seems justifiable. 

 

My apologies if I got any of this wrong or framed it incorrectly. Just trying to give some color to the comment as well as to the auction result. 

Don't forget San Francisco too.

[glendgold]

If you read the description of the piece in the auction, it says: 

This was the illustration famously used for the 1980s advertisements of The New St. Marks Baths, in St. Marks Place in New York City. This was a gay bathhouse in the East Village of Manhattan from 1979 to 1985 (originally opened as a Turkish bath house in 1913). It claimed to be the largest gay bath house in the world. It was an early target of focus during the early 1980s AIDS epidemic and shut down by the New York City Department of Health in 1985.

 

What Sideshow Bob says above seems about right but I don't have special knowledge about it.  It's just that I'm 54 and grew up in SF and Manhattan, so the phrase "bath house" immediately makes my heart drop. Those poor guys. 

 

 

[delekkerste]

20 hours ago, Sideshow Bob said:

As a piece of city/gay/AIDS history, the $40k seems justifiable.

Or, maybe somebody just loved the image?    It was, after all, used as the cover to one of his early art books. 

[Bronty]

 

2 hours ago, delekkerste said:

Or, maybe somebody just loved the image?    It was, after all, used as the cover to one of his early art books. 

 

Anaconda Press huh? 

 

I haven't noticed a premium for his other works used on book covers of his work (shrug).

Edited April 25, 2018 by Bronty

[vodou]

9 minutes ago, Bronty said:

 

Anaconda Press huh? 

 

I haven't noticed a premium for his other works used on book covers of his work (shrug).

I can't figure $40k for that painting either way, so one's not worse (less justified) than the other (imo).

[lobrac]

I think this disclosure actually brought the price up:

Condition Report*:

There appears to be light surface grime as well as scattered hairline abrasions, none affecting the figure.