-40%

Dora Seda oil painting 1980.. 48 inches by 60 inches

$ 2639.99

Availability: 100 in stock

Description

The consignor bought the painting directly from Dora Seda in 1980 it is 48 inches by 60 inches, local pick up only
Dorothea Antoinette
[1]
"Dori" Seda
(1951 – February 25, 1988)
[2]
was an artist best known for her
underground comix
work in the 1980s. She occasionally used the pen name "Sylvia Silicosis."
[3]
Her comics combined exaggerated fantasy and ribald humor with documentation of her life in the
Mission District
of
San Francisco, California
.
Career
[
edit
]
Fine Arts
[
edit
]
Seda was originally a
painter
and
ceramics
artist, graduating from
Illinois State University
with a B.A. in art.
[1]
Seda emphasized that she was primarily invested in "pure" art forms, having business cards printed to read, "Dori Seda--ARTIST--San Francisco."
[4]
Seda was creating a lot of fine arts content in 1979 and 1980. Some of her notable art works include
Punch Bowl (with cups and ladle), The Wreck in Heaven, Vibrator with 3 Attachments
for ceramics and
Jaded Fish
and
The Vampire Painting
for acrylic on canvas.
[4]
Comics
[
edit
]
To pursue her interest in comics, Seda took a job as a janitor at the San Francisco publisher
Last Gasp
, and soon after became a bookkeeper there.
[5]
(This work was primarily viewed as a financial necessity to Seda, her true passion being the "pure arts.") Seda worked exclusively night hours and was known as "The Vampire Bookkeeper."
[4]
Her first published comics work was a strip titled "Bloods in Space" which appeared in
Robert Crumb
's anthology magazine
Weirdo
, issue #2, in 1981. Seda's comic work was centered around taboo sexual subject matters, including swinging and bestiality. Her work intended to push boundaries that individuals upheld as communal prejudices. The reaction of Seda's audience is "less an affirmation of community standards than a kind of self-righteous consumerism."
[6]
She submitted her work under the pen name David Seda, but was published in the magazine under her true name. She was subsequently published in
Wimmen's Comix
,
San Francisco Comic Book
,
Viper
,
Yellow Silk
,
Prime Cuts
,
Cannibal Romance
,
Weird Smut Comix
,
Tits & Clits
,
Twisted Sisters
, and her solo book
Lonely Nights Comics
(which was banned in England upon its release).
[7]
Her work has been collected in the book
Dori Stories
, which also includes memorial tributes. This body of work almost was not published due to legal troubles regarding the reproduction of Seda's work.
[8]
In 1988, Last Gasp established the Dori Seda Memorial Award for Women. The first recipient was
Carol Tyler
.
[9]
Film
[
edit
]
Seda was featured in the short documentary
Gap-Toothed Women
by
Les Blank
, a tribute to women with the commonality of a gap between their two front teeth. Seda was originally cut from the film, as her interview answers were seen as bland, so Seda requested that she be given a second chance and preplanned a response that would gain greater reaction.
[4]
Seda explained how she was not inherently "valuable" because she was not beautiful because of her "funny teeth." She attributed her value to the work she had done in spite of her gap saying, she was "kind of glad that [her] teeth are like this, because if I had nice straight teeth, I might never have done anything.”
[10]
She created a poster for the film.
[11]
Death and legal issues with the reproduction of her work
[
edit
]
Seda died at age 37
[2]
from respiratory failure after catching the
flu
, during a huge outbreak in San Francisco in the spring of 1988.
[4]
She had contracted
silicosis
from firing metallic glazes, which release toxic fumes, without the use of a protective mask in her ceramics work.
[5]
She was also a heavy smoker who suffered from
emphysema
which contributed to the deterioration of her health.
After Seda's death, conflict arose over who owned the rights to reproduce her work. Friends of Seda's wanted to collect and publish her work (the collection that became
Dori Stories
), but at her death, Seda's estate passed to the next of kin, her mother. Due to the sexual nature of Seda's work, her mother did not wish to see Seda's writing in print again, and refused the right to publish it. However, a year prior to her death, Seda had written a will which gave partner
Don Donahue
full ownership of her work if she died. The will was written in a humorous tone, opening with the statement, "This is sort of a contract and sort of a will (although I don’t plan on dying soon.)” Regardless, this document held the legal power of a written contract and allowed for Seda's full body of work to be published.
[4]
The will was witnessed and signed by Seda,
Krystine Kryttre
,
Dan O'Neill
and Donohue. Seda's friends were able to successfully file the will in 1991, leaving Donohue full ownership of her work.
Look carefully at all the photos, they are an important part of the description. If you have any questions please email me.
Please note buyer is responsible for all import fees charge by their country