WaterSpirit washed Pelican, 2022

Phaidon and Artspace are proud to present a new limited edition print by world-renowned contemporary artist Wangechi Mutu, released in tandem with the artist’s new Contemporary Artist Series monograph. Entitled WaterSpirit washed Pelican, the limited edition of only 60 prints features layered lithography, collage, and mica embellishments, adding dimension and depth to a nuanced, lyrical, and fantastical composition characteristic of Mutu’s singular style. Each print comes with a signed and numbered copy of Phaidon’s 2023 monograph Wangechi Mutu.

Wangechi Mutu's remarkable body of work touches on such issues as sexuality, ecology, politics, and the rhythms and chaos that govern the world. Her boldly imaginative paintings, sculptures, and collages, often enriched with culturally-charged materials including tea, synthetic hair, Kenyan soil, feathers, and sand, interweave fact with fiction, generating a unique form of myth-making that sets her apart from classical history or popular culture.  WaterSpirit washed Pelican employs a found image from a pre-existing pelican illustration, which becomes transformed by Mutu’s ingenious interventions.

“Working with older prints and found materials is a kind of archaeography, a rediscovery, and re-naming of an image. It's my way to conjure up something from the past that can return to tell me something or remind me what I've forgotten.” —Wangechi Mutu

Mutu’s works are currently featured in the group show  A Gateway to Possible Worlds: Art & Science-fiction at Centre Pompidou-Metz, Paris, France, until April 2023. In 2019, the artist was featured in the Whitney Biennial and was commissioned to create sculptures for The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Fifth Avenue façade niches – the first-ever such installation on the Met Museum's historic exterior – inaugurating a new annual series. TIME recently named the artist one of its ‘28 Outstanding Women’.

Photography credit Jared Buckhiester

Wangechi Mutu's work deals with the very idea of human representation; how we perceive and reproduce images of what we think we are, how we view others, and create images of what we think of them. In her ongoing conversations with figuration, what Mutu’s work looks at our value systems in Art and beyond, that either obscure or elevate our image and reflections. 

Internationally renowned for a practice that encompasses various techniques and mediums including sculpture, film, installation, and collages, Wangechi Mutu’s work feature female hybrid creatures and vivid dystopian dreamscapes.

Mutu has participated in several major solo exhibitions in institutions worldwide, most recently “Wangechi Mutu” at Storm King Art Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art “The Façade Commission: Wangechi Mutu, The NewOnes, will free Us” and at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum “Wangechi Mutu: I Am Speaking, Are You listening?”.

All our frames are manufactured in the USA, using eco-friendly and sustainably sourced engineered hardwood for durability and a uniform finish that is free of defects. Frames are available in Black or White Satin and Honey Pecan.

All prints are hinged to a conservation quality, acid-free and lignin-free Alpha Cellulose matboard, using an acid-free linen tape. The mat's surface paper is fade and bleed resistant and is attached to a conservation quality foam-core mounting board that will keep the work safe from deterioration over time. Artworks with a deckled or decorative edges will be floated on the matboard, with acrylic spacers to separate the art from the glazing. All mounting is fully reversible, without any potential damage to the art.

All of our frames come with picture quality .090 mm plexiglass, which blocks 66% of UV to prevent color fading from exposure to light, keeping your art protected for years to come. It is now considered the industry standard for artists, museums and galleries throughout the world.

For images up to 30" x 40"

• 1 1/4” wide, 3/4” deep, with a 2 1/2” wide mat.
• We generally leave 1/4” - 1/2” of paper showing around the image, to accommodate signatures and for visual appeal.

For sheet sizes larger than 30” x 40" please contact an Artspace advisor for a custom quote.

Our art editions ship in 7 to 10 business days from New York.

Our framed art editions ship in 11 to 14 business days from New York.

This work is eligible for return within 30 days of receipt of delivery.

Questions about this work?

Interested in other works by this artist or other artists? We will source them for you.

Contact an Artspace Advisor at advisor@artspace.com