[Signed] Squid Hajime Sorayama [As New]

-- This print -- Signed by the artist, Hajime Sorayama--has been referred to as ""Giant Squid"" or ""Squid"" -- Significantly, this version of the ""SQUID"" is numbered ""HC 1/1."" --- The ""HC 1/1 denotes that it is a unique proof. Such proofs are typically marked HC 1/1 (hors-commerce) and are not part of the standard numbered run. -- hors-commerce (French for outside of commerce ) refers to prints that are not intended for general sale. They are usually: Set aside for the artist, printer, or publisher. Marked H.C. (instead of a number like 12/100). Sometimes given as gifts, used for exhibitions, or kept as archive proofs. They re printed from the same plates/blocks as the numbered edition, so the quality is the same. In the art market, H.C. prints can be as valuable or more valuable than regular editioned prints, since they re scarcer. -- this ""SQUID"" print is a Unique Artist s Proof or Monoprint Sometimes an artist or publisher produces a single special impression (a unique colorway, trial proof, or variation), and it s marked as 1/1 to emphasize that no others exist. -- the regular Squid edition usually shows a numbered range of 240 prints-- but this is a proof that preceded the regular run. -- prices realized for the regular Squid edition are $2000 to $2190 (widely documented as /240 published by Robert Bane Publishing.) ** for the art investor, this HC print is one of a kind, as 1/1 suggests. Hajime Sorayama (b. 1947) is a Japanese artist best known for his erotic sexy robot pin-ups blending technology and sensuality. A graduate of Chubi Central Art School (1969), he began in advertising before moving to Hollywood to contribute to sci-fi film effects. In 1999, he received Japan s Good Design Award and the Media Arts Festival Grand Prize for his concept work on Sony s robot AIBO. His art is held in the permanent collections of MoMA (New York) and the Smithsonian (Washington, D.C.). Now based in Tokyo, Sorayama continues to collaborate widely recently with Dior, Star Wars, and The Weeknd (2021) and is represented by Nanzuka Gallery.