Sebastian Bieniek (1975) - Doublefaced No. 4 (8/9)

Sebastian Bieniek (born 1975 in Poland) is famous for works in the context of duality and ambivalence which have gone viral several times since 2013 and have been published by the largest magazines around the world. According to Spanish VOGUE Magazine, even Madonna asked him in 2016 to make her new album cover, but the eccentric artist, as so often, refused and preferred to stay by himself. ____ For sale: Original photograph (high-quality fine art print) from Sebastian Bieniek’s Doublefaced series. There are only 9 individually numbered and signed originals of this work (Doublefaced No. 4). Here is 8/9. 8 of the originals are in important collections worldwide. Among them in the USA, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Spain, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Hong Kong. This work is being sold directly by the artist (as the last remaining one). The auction winner will receive a certificate of authenticity issued in the artist’s name. _____ Details about the artwork: - Title: Doublefaced No. 4 (8/9) - Year: 2013 - Size: 58 x 42 cm. (There is a 5 cm white border around the photo. The measurements include the white border) - Medium: Photo (not mounted and not framed) - Paper: Baryta Canson - Creation method: C-Print - Signed: Yes, multiple times. At the upper left front there is a quick signature. At the lower left front it is again signed in printed letters, titled, and stamped at the bottom right. On the back there is also labeling and signature. _____ Condition: Good. On the back there is a spot covered with tape. This is consistent with all photos that, like this one, were exhibited in 2016 at PUCE (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador) Quito/Ecuador, where Sebastian Bieniek held a teaching appointment. With the tape, the signature had been covered and the photo de-originalized so that after the exhibition it could be re-originalized (re-signed and re-labeled). The reason was that the artist was not sure whether the works would reliably return from South America, and he did not want to risk losing the “ originals.” They did, however, come back safely. _____ Shipping: The photo will be shipped rolled. About the Doublefaced series: The Doublefaced photography series by Berlin-based artist Sebastian Bieniek is indisputably one of the most important and influential photo-series of the internet age. It is the perfect example of contemporary art that not only understands the modern zeitgeist but reflects it in its purest form. In an era shaped by digital self-representation, constant reinvention of the ego, and the fragmentation of one’s identity on social media, Bieniek’s works struck a nerve in society. His works captured the deep human need to be both masked and visible in the digital noise, making the duality of our modern existence visually tangible. The minimalist yet profoundly disturbing concept – second faces drawn with eyeliner and lipstick on the models’ cheeks – spread virally in the 2010s and left a lasting imprint on global pop and fashion. How strongly this artistic impulse hit the pulse of the times is shown by its enormous resonance with world-famous icons. Madonna, the “Queen of Pop,” was so fascinated by the hypnotic visual language that she chose a photo from the series for the cover of her album Madame X. The concept also left deep marks in music and pop culture: in the official music video for Pharrell Williams’ hit Marilyn Monroe, the iconic idea of the two-faced illusion was copied and presented to a millions-strong audience. The most spectacular bridge between avant-garde body art and the high-fashion world was built on the runways of the French capital. Fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus recognized the zeitgeist potential of the works and, in direct collaboration with and with Sebastian Bieniek, brought the look to Paris Fashion Week. The Bieniek-inspired collection made a splash in the fashion world and helped Jacquemus win the prestigious LVMH Special Jury Prize, endowed with 150,000 euros. Through this symbiosis of internet phenomenon, pop culture, and haute couture, the Doublefaced series demonstrated impressively how traditional art can break the boundaries of the analog and become a universal visual language for an entire generation. _____ About the artist: The German concept artist, painter, and photographer Sebastian Bieniek (born 1975) is regarded as one of the most radical boundary-pushers in contemporary art. His entire body of work has been a permanent, provocative dance on the razor-thin line between reality and illusion. Born in Upper Silesia, Bieniek moved to Germany in 1989 as a late resettler and began his artistic path at the Braunschweig University of Art. There he studied Free Art under highly contrasting influences: the world-famous performance pioneer Marina Abramović and the Swiss conceptual artist John M. Armleder. Later he moved to the Berlin University of the Arts, where he completed his studies as a Master Student, while concurrently pursuing a directing degree at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. His career began in the late 1990s at the legendary Berlin art space Tacheles, from which he quickly established himself as a fixture. In 2013, the viral Doublefaced photo series finally brought him international breakthrough, after which renowned magazines named him one of Berlin’s most influential artists. Early in his career Bieniek drew attention with actions that deeply unsettled the public and the traditional art world. Inspired by the bodily boundary experiences of his mentor Abramović, he used his own body as material and, in an early work, cut a new wound into his arm daily for days to document fragility physically. Alongside these painful processes, he staged unsettling social experiments in public spaces by laying long stretches of barrier tape without permission, blocking subway entrances or squares in Berlin. This demonstrated how blindly people obey visual and state authority. With his 2011 book Realfake, he extended these experiments to the digital realm: by creating dozens of fake profiles, he manipulated algorithms, media, and public perception long before the phenomenon of “Alternative Facts” reached world politics. The absolute and radically dramatic peak of this interdisciplinary œuvre was the staging of his own death as a final art performance. Bieniek, who had long dissected the mechanisms of media impact, digital identity, and deception, extended this principle to the ultimate boundary of human existence. He forged and orchestrated news about his own death and accompanied it with conceptual video messages like his Apology for being dead, leaving the art world and the public in a state of shock. With this act, he went further interdisciplinarily than any other artist before him. He no longer used just canvas, camera, or the living body, but elevated total disappearance, play with the afterlife, and the ensuing media hysteria to the actual artwork. Bieniek thus proved once again that in the age of digital networks, the boundary between life and death is malleable, shapeable, and ultimately part of a hyperreal staging.

Estimate:£1,256.38

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