7-color Hand-Pulled Screen Print
Released via Louis Buhl
Louis Buhl & Co. is pleased to present Ratzzmatazz (2017) by the late artist Karl Wirsum. The edition was produced in 2017, prior to the artist’s recent passing at the age of 81. A founding member of the small but influential group known as the Hairy Who, Wirsum built his art on a highly original synthesis of multiple sources. His paintings and drawings combine a graphic sensibility—vivid, flat colors and simplified cartoon-like figures—with a sense of humor evident in the works themselves and also in titles that second guess and play with words.
Ratzzmatazz is characterized by visceral imagery and a surrealist quality that lends the depicted figures a wonderful sense of action; the abstraction in the work earns jarring forms. The artist's attention to movement and action is not only evident in his figures, but in his ability to fluctuate between media as well. With this playful and spirited edition—its imagery ringing especially true to Wirsum’s trademark style—we look forward to carrying on the legacy of the renowned artist.
