Last evening at Sotheby’s an extraordinary masterpiece of the American artist Lady Pink (Sandra Fabara) was sold for 163,800 $!

Lady Pink was born in Ecuador, raised in NYC and currently resides in the countryside north of the city. In 1979 she started writing graffiti and soon was well known as the only female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture. Pink painted subway trains from the years 1979-1985. In 1982 she had a starring role the motion picture “Wild Style”. That role and her other significant contributions to graffiti have made her a cult figure in the hip-hop subculture.

While still in high school she was already exhibiting paintings in art galleries, and at the age of 21 had her first solo show at the Moore College of Art. As a leading participant in the rise of graffiti-based art, Lady Pink‘s canvases have entered important art collections such as those of the Whitney Museum, the MET in New York City, the Brooklyn Museum and the Groningen Museum of Holland. She has established herself in the fine arts world, and her paintings are highly prized by collectors.

Last evening at Sotheby’s we saw an exciting auction, with works of art from the collection of Keith Haring.

Lady Pink‘s work “SUPER SPORT CAMERO [A DOUBLE-SIDED WORK]”, signed, spray enamel on unstretched canvas (112¼ by 119 in. (285.1 by 302.2 cm.), executed in 1984, after many minutes of competition sold for $ 163,800. A great result for one of the most important and historic street artists in the world.

         Credit: Sotheby’s

Regarding the artwork, Sotheby’s writes: “Lady Pink is widely regarded in the New York City street art scene as being one of the first female graffiti artists. Early in her career, she spent time working in Jenny Holzer’s studio, which was located on Eldridge Street in downtown Manhattan. The two collaborated on a series of canvases in which Holzer would paint her truisms on Laady Pink’s paintings. Jenny had given Lady Pink several large canvases to work with and in the case of this lot, she took inspiration from the prostitutes she saw near Holzer’s studio. Her boyfriend at the time, graffiti legend Lee Quinones, was a fan of the 1969 Super Sport Camero so she included it in the composition, hence the title for this work. Lady Pink later painted another work on the reverse of this canvas.”