STUP.

Original wall sculpture. 42 x 42 x 3 cm., octagonal street sign with a die cut text signal in reverse white and red 3m vinyl decals on to?le with two welded brackets on back; signed by the artist between them, auctioneer's printed number ticket on bottom, French text. N.p. [Paris], n.p., n.d., c. 1992. £3,200.00 Light patination and a few rubs. Illustrated on p-94 ? Francois Barre ? Roman Cieslewicz, Pyramyd, 2004). Provenance: from Roman Cie?lewicz' studio, sold at auction on March 9 2006, number on back, lot 367 Roman Cie?lewicz Oeuvres Provenant De Son Atelier Chez Calmels Cohen to the LSD Library. In Watts, illustrated pp-2-3,Volume 1. Very rare indeed, one copy only at auction (this one) suggesting that this is a ?one-off ' and not an artist's multiple . The artist has signed the work on the back in blue felt tip in a bold hand with his full name. After acquisition from Santo Domingo's friend Alain Weill's auction of Cie?lewicz material, the sign hung on the wall of the occult room, Julio Mario Santo Domingo's office. In Weill's catalogue note for the item in Calmels Cohen's sale he described it as a reprise of an illustration for the magazine ? Revolution '. The sign was revisited a few years later by the activist political art grocers ? Association Ne Pas Plier ' as, presumably, a multiple for their ? epicerie d'art frais ' series. It seems to have been pro- duced as a flat metal octagon with a sticker. The one time ? Panique ' artist and artistic director of Elle had a genius for semiotics and double meanings. On this occasion, Cie?lewicz had played with the classic American ?Stop ' road sign and the French word ?stupefiants ', meaning sort of ? narcotics '. The French drug squad was called the ?brigade des stupe?fiants' , thus a ?stup' is a narc. The associations with ?stupide' and the War on Drugs are unavoidable to this cataloguer. As is the Yiddish word ?shtup' equating perhaps to ? screw '. 243348 NOTE: THIS IS A LARGE ITEM AND MAY NEED SPECIALIST SHIPPING PLEASE ENQUIRE AS TO EXTRA COSTS.…