If people are interested, the two micallefs are
1) Lot 15
m - Antony Micallef, B. 1975 Hobo Angel (Burger King)
oil, acrylic and pencil on canvas
18,000 – 25,000 GBP

2) LOT 14
ANTONY MICALLEF
B. 1975
WOMAN STUDY 1
15,000—20,000 GBP

Wed 12 Dec 2007
02:00 PM
London, New Bond Street

Jesus, I've just thought that Laz is going to be showing David Choe next year.

I seriously hope he doesn't convince him to go for a print run anything larger than 200. In fact I hope Laz doesn't get his mitts on any Choe prints and leaves it to Andrew.

A show selling out does not necessarily make it a "success." How many major top American collections/curators/instituions actually bought pieces? I'd be willing to bet 80%+ went to buyers in the UK that flew over. I was under the impression this show was to promote AM's work to the American public. I don't think they did a great job of this. And can you show me one piece of actual art criticism on this show?

All my comments aside, I really like some of Antony's work. I think GIWTBB is one (if not the best) print release of the year. And I'm happy to say the first Micallef I've ever purchased.

Don't think it is too early to lend a critical opinion at all! It's easy to look at things in hindsight. And opinionate isn't a verb

GIWTBB is definitely one of the prints of the year regardless of quantity. Nice frame Stuey - best I've seen yet.
The Uzi's were really poor IMO possibly one of the worst prints of the year. I agree that from this current scene only a handful of artists will go down as greats. That being said I think certain prints will go down as classics even if the artist doesn't gain legendary status. DSTQ springs to mind among others..

you can't measure the strength of a storm when you're stuck in the middle of it.

I like that statement, very good :-)

An excellent point, which puts a lot of these sorts of debates into perspective. +1

it is where i shop

A rare post from me, but here's my 2p worth as this topic gets me going....

I went to LA and was treated like shit. I bought a piece on the night and have since seen sense and pulled out.
The majority of buyers were British and a good number from this forum. Show 1 gets bought by Hirst. Show 2 gets bought by people who believe, but frankly aren't influential buyers. This skews perceptions of a sell-out show.

I saw the prints online first and hated them. Saw them in person and loved them. 3 of them are now framed on my wall and, believe me, they are amazing. The lesson there? A large part of this scene is bases on online purchases. See a Banksy online and you know what it will look like in the flesh. Micallef (and in particular the Laz Prints) look crap on the screen, but believe me they are lush. Expensive but beautiful.

Why these prints? Someone decided they were the iconic images of the show. That was a poor decision.
Micallef is not prolific in his output and most of his originals will never be seen again. The prints live on, so chosing the right image is paramount. I love these prints but they're too polarising as images.

Has he damaged his career? Depends where his market lies. If it's hedge fund managers, then yes. They look at this forum and at eBay before they'll be seen dead in a serious gallery or museum. if it's celebrities then he's probably got a long and fruitful career taking the piss out them.

That's all. Interesting times for Micallef. He's definitely not where I would imagine he thought he was. And whose fault is that?

Did I miss the meeting where we decided art was to be valued on a time and materials basis

I have to say that my feeling was that things started to nose dive after the London Laz events and the Micallef print release. My thoughts are that this felt across the group and that these 4 prints released will forever be tainted with the negative aspects of their release, thus never command the prices of DD or 21stCL, etc, irrespective of numbers released. It appears agreed across the board that GIWTBB was a good image and has been well received. However, the 4 prints released through Laz were weak and too much of the same-old-thing... didn't matter whether they look great close-up, they were not new, challenging images to delight and excite... I'm worried that Micallef has been damaged by the hype and the disaster of the recent release by Laz.
Banksy, on the other had, releases a large edition of a strong image that is well received in its own right and, despite what the woe-sayers are typing on this forum, I doubt that the eBay prices will dip much in the next few weeks (months) before they are sent out. Same agent, different outcomes.... much of which boils down to the art itself...

i think micallef is too good an artist to be so easily damaged as you suggest. his work is of the highest order, imo, and whilst the print queue was a nightmare for all those there, this does not reflect on the quality of his work, again, imo.

It looks like the US economy is grinding to a growth halt. Probably something to do with high oil prices and failed military occupations in oil rich countries and fraudulent accounting practices. All of which i think the UK entertains to a lesser extent and won't be effected in the same capacity.

The lesson to learn is A) don't rely on oil b) don't go to war c) Don't be a naughty little capatalist. ;D

The US market is not as familiar with this type of work and very few people know who banksy is here in LA let alone Micallef or the others. "Street art" is not considered as viable here in the US and is also not mentioned nearly as much in the press.

I would agree that most of the buyers are from the UK - I send about 90% of my prints over to the UK. But everyone is closing in on Christmas and holidays so the price drops and shuffling of prints is pretty normal for this time of year and not the sign of the end.

Of course it was, Antony painted it for the show, about the people who would be at the show, and about the culture of the town the show was in.

He ripped the piss out of all of it, and they bought it.