The Artwork of John Lennon Show and Sale

Today I attended The Artwork of John Lennon exhibit and sale at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel in Oak Brook IL. This was day one of a three day show and sale of the art of John Lennon. The exhibit/sale features about 100 limited edition prints of John Lennon's drawings and sketches – as well as song-lyric sheets. With respect to Lennon's artistic output, he created about 1,700 pieces of original artwork with the complete set housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Taking my time I went three times around as I will most likely never see such a collection again. Spread throughout the art exhibit were quotes of Lennon's – mostly lines from songs. One I particularly liked which I did not recognize as being from a song was this: Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted. And of course the soundtrack for the show was the music of John Lennon – both as a Beatle and as a solo artist.

The Art

The most expensive group of work in the show was the four Erotics from the Bag One series of 1969: Erotic 3, 5, 6, and 8. The four Erotics featured a nude Lennon and/or Yoko Ono. Along with the art were press clippings from past seizures of the art on grounds of it being pornographic.

The most expensive framed print in the show was Embrace which had a sale price of $8,000. Frankly, this was one of the pieces that I did not care for and wouldn't want on my wall.

One of my favorite pieces was Sherlock Lennon primarily because I am such a fan of Sherlock Holmes. In this self-portrait we have a bearded Lennon in cape and deerstalker hat looking over his shoulder at us. This framed print was listed as selling for $4,000.00.

Other works I particularly liked were Morning Coffee and Free as a Bird – both being ink sketches. Perhaps my favorite sketch was Bag One – a sumi ink sketch which according to the placard was created from one continuous brush stroke with the brush being lifted to form breaks in the line. This is Lennon minimalism at its best – a very simple curved line drawing with just enough detail for the viewer to identify the subject: that being an embrace of Yoko Ono by Lennon.

The Artwork of John Lennon exhibit and sale details

I'm very glad I took the time to attend this showing of John Lennon's art and would encourage others to do so as well.

When: Friday June 1 Noon – 8 pm / Saturday June 2 11am – 7pm / Sunday June 3 11am – 6pm
Where: DoubleTree by Hilton – Chicago-Oak Brook, 1909 Spring Road, Oak Brook IL
Admission: Free admission, but a $2 donation is requested to benefit Gilda's Club Chicago. The organization assists men, women and children who are diagnosed with cancer with a variety of services.

Information: For show information, call (888) 278-1969.

 

| Return to the Blog Index | This entry was posted on Friday, June 1st, 2012 at 5:56 pm and is filed under Art and Artists, Art Shows.