Steve Kaufman Cohiba Cigar Original Oil Painting Man Lady Cave Large Signed

Artist: Steve Kaufman
Title: Double Cohiba Cigar
Medium: Original Oil Painting on Screen print Canvas
Canvas Size: 33" X 46.5"
Framed to 39.25" X 53"
Edition size: 46/50
Comes with original COA from former management company from whom we bought it directly

The pieces that continue to bring in top dollar are related to just a small handful of the subjects Kaufman used.  The Cohiba image became an ever popular piece produced by Kaufman and is arguably the most collected of his pieces.  The double Cohiba piece is extremely rare to come across as collectors hang onto these large impressive pieces. This piece came directly from Kaufman's management company and is looking for its first and final home.

Condition: This piece is in perfect condition.  The piece has been framed using a new technique we have found to be unbeatable with screen prints and preventing the sag often seen in them.  We use a reversible glue to hard mount the piece which can easily be reversed by running a hair dryer over the piece and pulling off the board.  This prevents the sag that happens on these piese over time.  In addition to that it gives an extremely rich look to the piece and comes out looking more like an acrylic painting on board.  Extremely impressive and should you ever want to go back to the traditional stretched looked with a little sag you still can.  Our process cost a little more, but looks ten times better!  Check out the pictures for a better idea.

Steve Kaufman is one of the most influential pop artists in U.S. history. His work appreciated for both its technical merit and its historical importance in pushing the pop art movement forward. Steve Kaufman single handedly transformed pop art from a discipline focused on ordinary object to art with social relevance. Even by artist standards, Steve Kaufman was an extremely precocious child. He held his first art show at his synagogue when he was only 8 years old, and works from that show are now hanging in the Jewish Holocaust Memorial in Brooklyn, New York. At age 12, Kaufman achieved his first commercial success when he was commissioned to paint custom pet rocks for the New York City Macys department store. Kaufman continued to experience success selling his art during his teens before enrolling in the famous New York institution the Parsons School of design.

Steve Kaufman met the American pop art pioneer Andy Warhol at Studio 54 in New York City. The two soon developed a friendship and working relationship where Kaufman served as Warhol’s assistant at his famous studio called “The factory.” Kaufman was heavily influenced by Warhol’s style. He and Warhol used many of the same mediums including, sculpture, photography, stained glass, mixed media and filmmaking, but his paintings and prints are by far the most famous. He is also famous for painting unusual objects, including Mercedes Benz and a Formula One Race Car. He is famous for painting celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Muhammed Ali, Marilyn Monroe, and Jackie Kennedy. He also produced a very successful screen print series of Cohiba cigars that remain some of Kaufman’s bestselling work today.

Early American pop art focused on making ordinary objects and images into works of art. Critics of pop art have criticized the school of art for being cold and lacking human emotion. While pop art was often injected with a sense of humor and an invitation for the audience to reflect on their value set, there was not much inherent personality in the paintings. Steve Kaufman’s art was a pioneer in changing the face or pop art to a more human one with added social relevance.

Kaufman was a major advocate for AIDs awareness and one of the recognizable pieces of Kaufman art is his 5 foot by 5 foot canvas of Trojan condoms. He also used his art to promote racial equality and advocate for an end to homelessness.