Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Munich art firm Editions Schellman, Fifty Are Better Than One displays four floors of art editions from Schellman’s archives at Phillips in London, to be auctioned to benefit the Ars Publicata project, with connections between the art inside and the exterior environment of Berkeley Square and the surrounding Mayfair streets.
It is an astonishing exhibition of art, not only including editions by many of the great names of modern art such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jeff Koons, Christo, Donald Judd and Gilbert & George, with a particular focus on German artists such as Joseph Beuys, Robert Longo, Thomas Schutte, Thomas Ruff, Gunter Forg and Bernard & Hilda Becher, but also imaginative artistic projects such as the Door Cycle project of 2006 – fascinating in this month of the London Architecture Festival with doors created by different artists, all using everyday hollow-core doors as the base material (Thomas Schutte’s door being a bookcase, with shades of concealed doors in libraries).
Jörg Schellmann took art editions beyond prints into new places, including his Wall Works, bridging architecture and art such as Richard Artschwager’s Corner Spots (2009), with some strange surprises such as Sylvie Fluery’s mirror with cosmetics in Icon (2001) and Jannis Kounellis’s Size 7 pair of black shoes from Wilson & Son. How can this be worth the estimate of £10,000 to £15,000?