Unverkäuflich
/13
- Unsellable
- Unverkäuflich
- 1976
- 13 drawings; pencil, colored pencil, typescript on paper
- 21 × 14,8 cm
In this paper work, Ernst Caramelle plays ironically with notions of the artwork within the art market. Each letter of its German title, which translates as “unsellable”, is written on a separate sheet of paper. In addition to these big, hand-drawn, colored letters, there are also small typewritten words that, taken as a whole, translate as: “This thirteen-part work bears the title “unsellable”, yet it is still available for sale.” What the artist treats as an oxymoron here seems in part tautological, as artworks have by now all become saleable regardless of their medium. Hence, with this work, the artist is anticipating at a very early stage the problematic aspects of an overreaching art market that has begun to impose its rules of art production on artists. W.S.