Futura valuation
New York graffiti artist, formerly known as Futura 2000, known for his abstract approach to the medium.
Futura (born 1955), born Leonard McGurr in Manhattan and formerly known as Futura 2000, began painting on New York's subway in the early 1970s and served in the US Navy from 1974 to 1978.
What a work by Futura is worth
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation is free, made online from the photographs you send, and it commits you to nothing. We act for sellers across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
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Bio
Futura (born 1955), born Leonard McGurr in Manhattan and formerly known as Futura 2000, began painting on New York's subway in the early 1970s and served in the US Navy from 1974 to 1978. In the early 1980s he showed at Patti Astor's Fun Gallery alongside Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf, and he painted backdrops live on stage during The Clash's Combat Rock tour. At a time when most graffiti centred on lettering he worked abstractly, with thin airbrush-like lines of aerosol. He went on to work as a graphic designer on record sleeves and on the imagery of the band Unkle, and he has collaborated with Nike, Supreme, Levi's and A Bathing Ape.
What comes to market is paintings on canvas and paper in aerosol and acrylic, along with signed prints and a large amount of design work and collectable objects. A buyer will want to know the date of a work, since early canvases from the 1980s are treated differently from recent ones, and where it came from. Prints should be signed and numbered, with the edition confirmed. Canvases should be checked for cracking and flaking in the paint and for damage to the edges.
At a glance
- Born
- 17 November 1955, Manhattan
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.
