MADSAKI (Japanese, b. 1974) Untitled_P1, 2020 Signed, numbered and dated "madsaki 2020 8/100" lower right

MADSAKI takes on the most famous chronograph in the world. In Untitled_P1, a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona dial in the "Paul Newman" exotic-dial style fills a perfect circle. Its cream dial, black sub-registers, red-tipped chapter ring and red DAYTONA script are rendered in the artist's signature spray-paint style: gestural, dripping and deliberately imperfect. It's a horological icon seen through a graffiti lens. That makes it a natural meeting point between watch collecting and contemporary art, and an especially fitting piece for the Horamundi Artwork section.

The Work

The image reproduces a hand-painted MADSAKI original with everything a collector would recognise: the coronet and ROLEX COSMOGRAPH signature at 12, three contrasting sub-dials, the tachymeter bezel graduated in "units per hour", and loose, sketch-like hands. MADSAKI is not after photographic precision. His paint splatters and wobbling lines turn a precision instrument into something raw and personal. That tension between exact engineering and spontaneous gesture is the core of the work's appeal.

Published in 2020 by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Takashi Murakami's Tokyo studio and gallery, Untitled_P1 is the first of MADSAKI's "P" series of circular prints. It was issued in an edition of only 100 hand-signed impressions. This example is number 8 of 100.

About the Artist

Born in Osaka in 1974, MADSAKI moved to New Jersey at the age of six and spent most of his formative years in the United States. He graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York in 1996 and returned to Japan in 2004. He took up spray paint as a way to paint fast and spontaneously, and his work explores an identity shaped between Japan and America.

MADSAKI is represented by Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki Gallery and has exhibited with Perrotin in Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai. He is best known for his Wannabe series, begun in 2015, in which he repaints masterpieces of art history in aerosol. His work appeared in MURAKAMI vs. MURAKAMI at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2019).

Artist    MADSAKI (Japanese, b. 1974)

Title       Untitled_P1

Year       2020

Medium               Archival pigment print on Canson Velin cotton rag paper with deckled edges

Sheet size          50 x 50 cm (19 5/8 x 19 5/8 in.)

Image size         45 cm diameter (circular)

Edition                  8 / 100

Signature            Signed, numbered and dated "madsaki 2020 8/100" in ink, lower right

Publisher            Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo

Provenance      Phillips Hong Kong, 24/7: Online Auction, lot 61 on 19 Oct 2020; acquired by a collector

Condition           Excellent, framed

Rolex, Cosmograph and Daytona are trademarks of Rolex SA. This artwork is an independent creation by MADSAKI. Horamundi is not affiliated with Rolex SA.