PBA Galleries

Oversized canvas bag, with color printed design of a lamb, pig and cow, standing atop a crown. Produced for the Nelson Art Gallery show of Antoni Miralda art in November, 1981. Bag produced by the Central Bag Co. of Kansas City. 100x55 cm (39½x21¾"). Also included in the lot is a pair of books:

• Restany, Pierre. Miralda! "Une vie d'artiste". Wrapper-bound book. A biography and catalog of Miralda's art, on the last page is an image of this canvas bag. Ambit, [c.1981].
• 46 pp. English translation of the above work, translated by John Shepley.

Signed and inscribed in red marker at the bottom edge of bag "Con amistad para / pour / to John Shepley. Miralda." A primary color composition with black outlines. Antoni Miralda (b.1942) is a Catalan artist who works with a variety of media. His art explores the social, economic and political implications of food consumption. Per the English translation by Shepley (to whom the canvas bag is inscribed) of Restany's biography of Miralda, about the installation titled Wheat & Steak: "Miralda literally inserted himself into the life of the city [Kansas City], integrating his own performances and installations with the calendar of ceremonies and the commemorative places and spaces, and linking the concept of the harvest (wheat) to that of livestock...the emblematic pyramid TRI-UNI-CORN of the three animals of the American Royal, the Harvest Queen, represented by a crown 16 feet high, all blue and gold...A complex spectacle with multiple references, totally integrated with the reality of the event, theme, and city, Wheat & Steak constitutes one of Miralda's most complete successes."