Untitled by Alex Israel and Josh Smith sold for $52,920 at Phillips New Now New York Auction on March 9, 2022 in New York City. The painting is part of a collaboration between the two contemporary artists—both successful in their own right—which originally appeared at a one-day show, “Mirage,” at New York’s Reena Spaulings Fine Art gallery on Nov. 16, 2014. The collaboration between Israel and Smith spawned a series of palm tree paintings, infused with Smith’s abstraction and Israel’s penchant for pastel gradients.
The New York-based Smith is best known for his semi-abstract paintings that feature pictograph-like symbols. He first gained prominence in the early 2000s for a series of paintings depicting his own name. Inspired by Los Angeles and Hollywood, Israel is recognized for his gradient sky paintings as well as his luxury brand collaborations. In 2019, Israel partnered with Snapchat to create portraits using Snapchat’s augmented reality technology.
No strangers to collaboration themselves, attorneys, accountants and financial advisors are constantly working together to best serve their clients’ estate-planning needs and beyond. There’s even collaboration among authors, as Amanda Koplin (a mental health counselor), Martin M. Shenkman (an attorney) and Karen M. Davila (a human resources director) contribute their various areas of expertise to the article “Addressing Lawyer Mental Health Issues in Your Practice,” p. 27.