Wolf Sausage
Wolf Sausage
Unsigned Print
Jean-Michel Basquiat
£35,000-£50,000
$70,000-$100,000 Value Indicator
$70,000-$90,000 Value Indicator
¥330,000-¥470,000 Value Indicator
€40,000-€60,000 Value Indicator
$350,000-$500,000 Value Indicator
¥6,650,000-¥9,500,000 Value Indicator
$45,000-$60,000 Value Indicator
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Screen print in colours on Somerset Satin paper. S. 55.9 x 76.2 cm. (22 x 30 in.). Executed in 2019 in an edition of 50. Signed by the Administrators of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2021 | Cornette de Saint Cyr Brussels | Belgium | |||
| September 2020 | Phillips London | United Kingdom |
Meaning & Analysis
Wolf Sausage is a 1984 screen print in colours from Jean-Michel Basquiat's Daros Suite series. The print is divided into a haphazard grid, much of which is covered by a layer of paint which obscures the sketches and text that lie beneath. The depiction of a token with the words ‘comics code’ brings the piece into parallel with a cartoon. The mantra-like saying which is written at the top of the image “in god we trust / in god we trust” and robotically repeated across the piece, clashes against the text reading ‘Liberty’ which surrounds it.
The image of a dog with a top hat, which appears to loom menacingly over much of the piece, recalls the humanisation of animals in a number of Basquiat works through adornment. In Trophy, a penguin dons a top hat. In Pez Dispenser, a dinosaur wears a majestic gold crown. This anthropomorphism is undercut by the title and images of meat in Wolf Sausage, thereby juxtaposing the aggrandising of animals with their use as food products. This kind of potent acknowledgement of society’s hypocrisy is emblematic of Hunter Drohojowska’s assertion that “Basquiat’s works are direct and furious reflections of a decadent, sadistic society”.
