Summer Premium and Catalog Auction July 31 & Aug 8
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/31/2015
If you've been following Daniel Duffy's meteoric rise in the sports-art world over the past 5 years, then you'll instantly recognize this epic masterpiece as his largest, most ambitious, most time-consuming, most intricate and most colorful artwork to date. Incredible but true, this is the legendary "Friendly Confines" composed entirely and exclusively of the names of every Cubs player in franchise history from 1876 up through May of 2015—which, as destiny would have it, turns out to be the exact total of 2,015 Cubbies! A showman at heart, Duffy has so far finished 95% of this labor of love, stopping short so that he can soon dazzle Chicago's National Convention attendees by inking the final 150 names in person during an all-day interactive performance on Friday, July 31st, prior to our Live Auction that night. In addition to watching Daniel in action and peppering him with questions about his project, spectators will also have the opportunity to search the multi-hued scene for the presence of their favorite Cubs figures—whether immortals or obscure September call-ups. (Hint: Ernie Banks is, appropriately, the most prominent name in the beautiful blue sky.) Also worthy of close inspection is the elegant script styling that forms the iconic outfield-wall ivy, as well as the meticulous architectural details of the classic scoreboard and Wrigley Rooftops. See you in Chicago!
Bio: Rarely do sports artists emerge who blaze a new trail and reinvent what’s possible, yet Daniel Duffy has been doing just that for over 5 years with his extraordinary Word Art creations. The Philadelphia-based innovator uses text, numbers, dates, game logs and statistics for his pen-and-ink portraits of athletes and historical figures. Duffy has sold more than 10,000 prints at public appearances, at the Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park, through Major League Baseball, and on his website. Duffy’s Bryce Harper artwork was featured in a Gatorade commercial. He also was the honored guest for a multi-day live art performance at the TED2014 conference in Vancouver where his subjects included Bill Gates.