Marlboro. 1984.
Acrylic on paper Artist frame, with a pack of Marlboro Reds torn the shape of the "Marlboro Man".
Signed and dedicated “For Klaus” on the reverse of the accompanying pack of cigarettes. Frame: 42 x 34.5 cm (16.5 x 13.5 in). Cigarette pack: 24,5 x 10,5 cm (9,6 x 4,1 in).
Not unframed for cataloging. [KA].
• Hambleton is one of the “fathers of street art”.
• Together with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, he is considered the founder of street art.
• The artist's works are represented in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Brooklyn Museum, New York, and the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, among others.

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Berlin.
Private collection, Rhineland-Palatinate (inherited from the above in 1989).

(quoted from: Tom Seymour, The Tumultuous, Tragic Life of Street Art Pioneer Richard Hambleton, Artsy, 2018).

"[The artist's] success was almost immediate. Hambleton was the first street artist to be embraced by the established New York gallery scene, with Keith Haring and Basquiat following in his wake. He exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1984 and 1985, and at the Venice Biennale in 1984 and 1988, where he painted “Shadowmen” across Venice. A subsequent tour of Europe brought his figures to the streets of Paris, Rome, and London. He also travelled to Berlin to paint 17 life-size “Shadowmen” on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall, returning a year later to paint more on the western side. [..] Andy Warhol repeatedly asked Hambleton to paint his portrait, and Hambleton, who thought of them as equals, always turned him down." (quoted from: artsy.net, 2018)

In good condition. Artist frame somewhat weak. The torn Marlboro packet slightly soiled in places.