Sebastian Bieniek (1975) - Doublefaced No. 4 (8/9)

Sebastian Bieniek (born 1975 in Poland) is famous for works in the context of duality and ambivalence, which have gone viral several times since 2013 and have been published by the world's largest magazines. According to the Spanish VOGUE Magazine, even Madonna asked him in 2016 to create her new album cover, but the eccentric artist, as so often, refused and preferred to stay by himself.

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For sale:

Original photography (high-quality Fine Art Print) from Sebastian Bieniek's Doublefaced series.

There are only 9 individually numbered and signed originals of this work (Doublefaced No. 4). Here is 8/9.

8 of the originals are in important collections worldwide. Including the USA, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Spain, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the United Kingdom, Japan and Hong Kong.

This work is being sold directly by the artist (as the last remaining piece).

The auction winner will receive a Certificate of Authenticity issued in the artist’s name.

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Details of the artwork:

- Title: Doublefaced No. 4 (8/9)
- Year: 2013
- Size: 58 x 42 cm. (There is a 5 cm wide white border around the photo. The measurements include the white border)
- Condition: Photo (not mounted and not framed)
- Paper: Baryta Canson
- Creation method: C-Print
- Signed: Yes, multiple times. There is a quick signature on the top left front. At the bottom left front another signature in print letters, titled and stamped bottom right. On the back also labeled and signed.

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Condition:

Good.
On the back there is a spot covered with tape. This is the case with all photos that, like this one, were exhibited in PUCE (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador) Quito/Ecuador in 2016, where Sebastian Bieniek held a teaching assignment. The tape covered the signature at the time, de-originalizing the photo so that it could be re-originalized (re-signed and labeled) after the exhibition. The reason was that the artist was not sure whether the works from South America would safely return, and he did not want to risk the loss of “originals.” They did come back safely, though.

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Shipping:

The photo will be shipped rolled.

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About the Doublefaced series:

The Doublefaced photographic series by Berlin-based artist Sebastian Bieniek is undisputedly one of the most important and influential photo series of the internet age. It is the perfect example of contemporary art that not only understands the modern zeitgeist but also reflects it in its purest form. In an era dominated by digital self-presentation, the constant reinvention of the ego, and the fragmentation of one's identity on social media, Bieniek’s works hit a nerve of society. His works captured the deep human need to be simultaneously masked and visible in the digital din, making the duality of our modern existence visually tangible.

The minimalist yet deeply disturbing concept – two faces drawn with eyeliner and lipstick on the cheeks of models – went viral in the 2010s and left a lasting mark on the global pop and fashion world. How strongly this artistic impulse struck the pulse of the times is evident in its enormous impact on world-famous icons. Madonna, the “Queen of Pop,” was so fascinated by the hypnotic visual language that she selected a photo from the series for the cover of her album Madame X. The concept also left deep traces in music and pop culture: in Pharrell Williams’ official music video for Marilyn Monroe, the iconic idea of the two-faced illusion was copied and presented to millions of viewers.

The most spectacular bridge between avant-garde body art and the high-fashion world was forged on the runways of the French capital. Fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus recognized the zeitgeist potential of the works and, in direct collaboration with Sebastian Bieniek, brought the look to the Paris Fashion Week. The Bieniek-inspired collection caused a sensation in the fashion world and helped Jacquemus win the prestigious LVMH Special Jury Prize, endowed with 150,000 euros. Through this symbiosis of internet phenomenon, pop culture, and haute couture, the Doublefaced series demonstrated impressively how traditional art can break the boundaries of the analog and become a universal visual language for an entire generation.

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About the artist:

The German conceptual artist, painter, and photographer Sebastian Bieniek (born 1975) is regarded as one of the most radical boundary-pushers in the contemporary art scene. His entire oeuvre has been a perpetual, provocative dance on the razor-thin line between reality and illusion.

Born in Upper Silesia, Bieniek came to Germany in 1989 as a late resettler and began his artistic path at the Braunschweig University of Art. There he studied Fine Arts under two extremely opposing influences: the world-renowned performance pioneer Marina Abramović and the Swiss conceptual artist John M. Armleder. Later he moved to the Berlin University of the Arts, where he completed his studies as a Meisterschüler, while concurrently pursuing a directing degree at the German Academy for Film and Television in Berlin. His career began in the late 1990s at the legendary Berlin art space Tacheles, from which he quickly developed into a fixed figure. In 2013, the viral photo series Doublefaced brought him international breakthrough, and prestigious magazines soon named him one of the most influential artists in Berlin.

Early in his career, Bieniek stood out with actions that deeply unsettled audiences and the traditional art world. Inspired by the bodily boundary experiences of his mentor Abramović, he used his own body as material and, in an early work, cut himself a new wound on the arm daily for days to document transience physically. In addition to these painful processes, he staged disturbing social experiments in public spaces by laying out large stretches of barrier tape without permission to block subway entrances or squares in Berlin. This demonstrated how blindly people obey visual and state authority. With his 2011 book Realfake, he expanded these experiments to the digital space: by creating dozens of fake profiles, he deliberately manipulated algorithms, media, and public perception – long before the phenomenon of “Alternative Facts” reached world politics.

The absolute and radical pinnacle of this interdisciplinary work was the staging of his own death as a final art performance. Bieniek, who throughout his life dissected the mechanisms of media impact, digital identity, and deception, extended this principle to the ultimate boundary of human existence. He forged and orchestrated reports about his own death and accompanied this with conceptual video messages like his Apology for being dead, thereby plunging the art world and the public into a state of shock. With this act, he went interdisciplinarily far beyond any other artist before him. He no longer used only canvas, camera, or the living body, but elevated total disappearance, play with the beyond, and the ensuing media hysteria to the actual artwork. Bieniek thereby proved decisively that in the age of digital networks even the boundary between life and death is manipulable, shapeable, and ultimately part of a hyperreal staging.