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Contemporary + Modern: Art & Design

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  2025-10-25 11:00:00 2025-10-25 11:00:00 America/New_York Circle Auction Circle Auction : Contemporary + Modern: Art & Design https://bid.circle-auction.com/auctions/circle-auction/contemporary-modern-art-design-19268
Circle Auction is proud to present the October 2025 auction Modern & Contemporary: Art and Design, featuring fine art by Wolf Kahn, Wilbur Niewald, William S. Burroughs, Salvador Dali, Ken Ferguson, Dean Mitchell, Lonnie Powell, Grandma Layton, Peter Max, Philomene Bennett, Stanley Lewis, Michael Stack, Janet Kuemmerlein, and Barbara Mueller. Modern design by George Nakashima, Paul McCobb, Charles & Ray Eames, Gino Sarfatti, Eero Saarinen, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Jack Cartwright, Russell Woodard, Jane & Gordon Martz, Peter Hvidt & Orla Molgaard Nielsen, Richard Schultz, and John Follis. Circle Auction info@circle-auction.com
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William S. Burroughs "Going Away - Where?" Mixed Media Painting (1990)
Lot 15

William S. Burroughs "Going Away - Where?" Mixed Media Painting (1990)

Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000
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Starting Bid
$2,000
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William S. Burroughs

(American, 1914-1997)

Going Away - Where?, 1990

Mixed media painting with collage on paper

23" x 17 3/4"

 

The title Going Away - Where? is taken from an excerpt from Joseph Conrad's novel Under Western Eyes (1911), a major influence on William S. Burroughs as an author. The scene, Councillor Mikulin's interview of Razumov, directly inspired an entire chapter in Burrough's seminal Beat Generation text Naked Lunch (1959). Burroughs' character Doctor Benway has been identified as having strong similarities to the Councillor Mikulin, and indeed Burroughs praised Mikulin: "He has the... trick of leaving a sentence unfinished or conveying something without moving or just with the flicker of an eyelid." [Michael Stevens, The Road to Interzone, 2022]

 

This mixed media work was acquired by the present owner from William S. Burroughs himself in 1990, selected among the Burroughs' available works in the artist's Lawrence, KS house, identified by Burroughs and writer James Grauerholz as being particularly "suitable" -- and among Burroughs' finer pieces. The present owner appeared with Burroughs in the Ministry music video Just One Fix (1992).

 

Spray paint, acrylic, and airbrush on paper, with a collaged monotype in the upper right corner. Signed to the bottom edge, titled and dated to the reverse, with a description of the history of the piece on a page affixed to the frame. The glazed frame measures 30 1/2" x 25".

Condition

Very good condition, noting only negligible bumping to the bottom left corner.

Overall Dimensions
Height: 30.50 in
Width: 25.00 in
Depth: 1.00 in

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