Mel Bochner, Kick Against the Pricks, Screenprint, 2018, 25/30
Mel Bochner turns an ancient proverb into a battle cry — in white letters on blue, edition 25 of 30.
ARTIST: Mel Bochner (American, 1940–2025)
PERIOD: Contemporary, 2018
CATEGORY: Works on Paper / Print
MATERIALS: Screenprint in colors on metallic paper
DIMENSIONS: 10½ h × 27⅞ w in. (27 × 71 cm)
EDITION: 25/30. Signed, dated and numbered to lower right 'Bochner 2018'. Published by Two Palms, New York. Framed.
CONTEXT: Bochner transforms the ancient proverb "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" — warning against fighting authority — into a latter-day affirmative commandment to rebel, shouted in all caps against his trademark "Blah Blah Blah" ground. The work was first sold by Downtown for Democracy, a political action committee raising funds for Democratic candidates, lending this edition a specific political and historical moment. One of the most charged prints of Bochner's late career, from an edition of only 30. His work is held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.