At its core, art doesn’t just invite conversation, it engages in it. So when buying artful gifts for close friends it’s important to ask yourself what kind of conversation they might want to find themselves in.
Are they excited to find their own piece of art history and receive gifts by Celebrated Artists such as Andy Warhol, Judy Chicago, Luc Tuymans, or Jonas Wood?
Maybe they’re a little more open to happy surprises; in which case something New & Now by Rising Stars such as María Berrío, Sascha Braunig, Trenton Doyle Hancock or Miki Leal could introduce them to the intrigue of collecting.
Perhaps they’re looking to get lost in a landscape of color and shape, via some Inspiring Artworks for a Curated Home. If so, may we suggest something by Rodrigo Chapa, Sara Van Der Beek, or Isabel Ruiz Perdiguero.
Or maybe just go for the gold standard with Artspace’s expanding and highly sought after Exciting Exclusive Editions, made in close collaboration with artists such as: Cecily Brown, Jenny Saville, Woody de Othello, and Dana Schutz.
Finally, if you think a home décor gift could hit their passion point, pick some Beautiful Gifts for Every Budget that might make staying in just that little more stimulating. Choose from Yinka Ilori, Nir Hod, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, Julian Opie, Eddie Martinez, and many more.
Below you’ll find the backstories to just five of the amazing gifts from our curated holiday categories that will hopefully guide you in your choices. We hope you enjoy them, and remember: the individuality that characterizes your gift choices is part of the pleasure of giving.
WOODY DE OTHELLO - our glass (print), 2023 
Exciting Exclusive Editions
Our Artspace editions - made in close collaboration with contemporary artists - are the envy of the art world; with works by international blue chip artists nestling alongside pieces by up-and-coming art stars.
Take Woody De Othello, for example. The Haitian-born artist’s bright, bold and beautiful sculptures have brought a smile to the faces of critics, curators and art lovers alike at Frieze, the Whitney Biennial, and Art Basel Miami.
Their instant connection with De Othello’s art is not surprising. Much of his engaging, thought-provoking work is situated in the domestic realm, anthropomorphizing the space we’re in, or an everyday object we interact with.
“I feel like those small everyday objects hold a lot of life metaphors,” he tells Artspace. “My work is about looking at everyday objects and transmuting them to have style, character, and emotion.”
There’s no better example of this approach than his Artspace edition, our glass, 2023 - which is equally at home in any home as it is in a gallery.
“It’s a kind of microcosm of our life cycle - being born and rebirthed and the different changes that occur throughout the years," De Othello says. "I like that as a metaphor for the human experience. They help you to appreciate and to think about things more.” What better sentiment could you hope to gift? Shop more Exciting Exclusive Editions here.
RODRIGO CHAPA - Episodios #12, 2023
Colors and Shapes - Inspiring Artworks for a Curated Home
Do you have a friend whose love of art really reflects what’s going on in their heart and head as well as in their home? Then they may appreciate the work of Mexico City-based photo artist Rodrigo Chapa, whose work is inspired by the phenomenology of color.
Episodios #12, 2023 is part of Chapa's third body of work Episodiosis – the Greek word for episode. It investigates color, shape, and composition, using only objects, tools, and photographic equipment at hand in his studio. Chapa mainly explores the medium of photography, relying on the pictorial tradition as an environmental resource to build his beautifully colored, exquisitely composed, images.
“I always search for beauty,” Chapa says. “The forms that we relate to the most, and the poses that are most pleasing to the eye motivate me. I find a lot of inspiration in paintings. The abstract expressionists in particular.”
Chapa graduated in professional photography with studio specialty in the International Photographic School, Spéos in Paris. He’s currently the director at his photographic studio C129 in Mexico City where he co-founded the photographic printing lab Estudio Tampiquito.
“I always start with paper and pencil. I draw a couple of form explorations and then I make a more detailed digital sketch," he says. "I’ve been sketching on a grid for the last couple of years. Then we translate that sketch to a three dimensional set. We find the nearest paint colors, the sizes of things, and then build them in the studio.” Shop more Inspiring Artworks for a Curated Home here.
YINKA ILORI - AAMI AAMI Plate - Set Of Two, 2023
Beautiful Gifts for Every Budget
Brighten their breakfast or brunch with Yinka Ilori’s AAMI AAMI plates - the perfect place setting for any meal - any time of the year. Bold colors abound in the work of this British artist and designer who The New York Times Style Magazine described as "one of 12 talents shaping the design world”.
Aaami aami” translates as ‘dot dot’ in the Nigerian Yoruba language, and here yellow dots shine brightly within the plate’s lively pattern of orange sunbeam rays. And, as orange is the color commonly associated with amusement, extroversion, warmth, energy, taste, and aroma - what better qualities to bring to a dinner party setting?
Ilori says that his daring pairing of colors is something inspired by being exposed to vibrant combinations in his youth.
"Because I've seen these palettes for so long, they come naturally to me," he says. "There are no rules. There's no Pantone Color of the Year, there's no 'right way of working'. Sometimes I use color as a way of starting a conversation. It's quite a nice way of opening up a topic."
The joys of nature are reflected in these organically shaped, individually hand-molded, pieces which contrast with the precise, geometric elements of the artwork.
“In my work, I have incorporated some of these styles, patterns and colors. I think color can be an incredibly powerful tool that can influence the way you feel.” The power to change mood? That’s a gift worth giving. Shop more Beautiful Gifts for Every Budget here.
MARÍA BERRÍO- May Flowers, 2022
Using torn bits of ornately patterned Japanese paper, paint, sequins, and other materials, Victoria Miro Gallery artist María Berrío makes intricate collages that mirror her thoughts, dreams, and experiences.
This 18-color silkscreen with embossment is a great example of how her autobiographical practice, rooted in nature, and characterised by bold colors and flat figuration, plays out in a rare print edition.
“There was a lot of political and social upheaval in Bogotá when I was growing up. For our safety we lived very small and sheltered lives and escaped to our country farm on the weekends. Out in nature, I was able to play freely and let my imagination roam," she says.
"The nature scenes in my collages are inspired by those experiences. My philosophy is to create beauty and show that out of chaos, hope can rise.”
María Berrío’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, New York, NY; among others. Shop more New & Now- Art's Rising Stars here.
AFTER ANDY WARHOL - Flowers 11.73, 2011
Artful Gifts by Celebrated Artists
Andy Warhol’s series of flower paintings shrewdly marry together old and new, updating the respected tradition of the floral still life by charging it with vibrant colors and executing it in his signature silkscreen technique, a process still relatively unusual in 1964, and typically only used in commercial art.
A collection of the flower paintings provided the focus for Andy’s first show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in late 1964. It was a radical departure from his previous brand-focused imagery and it has often been claimed that the series gave rise to the expression flower power.
Warhol used a photo of hibiscus blossoms he’d found in an issue of the magazine Modern Photography to create the prints. He copied, cropped, and enhanced the contrast on the image, and eventually selected a square format that enabled the painting to be viewed pleasingly from any position.
However, Patricia Caulfield, the photographer of the image, and executive editor of the magazine, sued Warhol in 1966 for his unauthorized use of the photograph which she’d taken in Barbados.
As part of a settlement Andy created two new Flowers paintings for her and agreed to pay her a 25 per cent share of the royalties derived from a portfolio of Flowers prints. Caulfield went on to become an acclaimed nature photographer. She died this July (2023) at the grand old age of 91 knowing that her work had prompted a new era of nature photography in the way that Warhol had created a new genre of contemporary art. Shop more Artful Gifts by Celebrated Artists here
