Wright Auction

With a series of grandly conceived artistic pursuits, Polan showcased his open-armed, maximalist vision. From his I Want to Know All of You project at the University of Michigan, which featured drawn portraits of all 800 people at the art school, to Every Piece of Art in the Museum of Modern Art, in which he reproduced all works on display in 2005 and 2009, to the wryly named An Entire Bag of Popcorn, and, finally, to his Every Person in New York project, begun in 2008, which became Polan’s magnum opus—he had an insatiable urge to render all manner of phenomena. Taken together, Polan’s drawings highlight some of his recurring interests: New Yorkers, city scenes, museums, dinosaurs, comics, pop culture, celebrities, fast food, and, of course, Taco Bell—since Polan famously founded the Taco Bell Drawing Club in 2005 after moving to New York. Yet his body of work went beyond illustration to include printmaking, zines, book design, photography, sculpture, embellished found objects, and more.

As a collector, Polan’s preferences were just as broadly defined. While he favored works by and ephemera related to major figures like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Richard Prince, Shepard Fairey, and KAWS (Brian Donnelly), he was perhaps even more enamored with compositions by artists who moved in his social circle and those with whom he was close friends. This included Stefan Marx, Masanao (Himaa) Hirayama, Alec Soth, Marcel Dzama, Barry McGee, Jane Mount, Matt Leines, Daniel Davidson, Kathy Ryan, and many others.

Polan was a ubiquitous figure not just on the New York art scene, but on the streets of New York, given his mode of creation. As such, he was finding and acquiring art wherever he went. Quite often, this was at the myriad art and books fairs held throughout the city. In addition to direct purchases, Polan would commonly obtain examples from other artists through trades of his own work. Far from stashing away his collection, he lived surrounded by it at home, his apartment replete with art and books and ephemera that suggested a constant exchange of ideas and influence among his artist friends in New York and beyond. Thus, Polan’s interior space mirrored the glorious abundance of the city outside.

“[Polan’s] was an art of taking pleasure in and appreciating the people, places, and things of the world,” wrote art critic Jerry Saltz in a posthumous tribute for Vulture. “His oeuvre is a mirthful illustrated encyclopedia of modern life, body language, styles, and habits. In addition to his twitchy, wiggling line and ever-curious, recording mind, city life is the deep content of Polan’s work.”

Through his wide-ranging artistic practice and with the diverse collection he so thoughtfully assembled, Jason Polan made manifest his inclusive, humorous, and upbeat outlook on society. His impact on the contemporary art world, and the culture of post-millennial New York City in particular, was profound. While Polan found a larger following through his collaborations with brands like UNIQLO, Nike, Vans, and Marvel Comics in the last five years of his life, never before has the breadth of his art and collection been presented to a broader public market.

Although the world lost Jason Polan too soon, his inimitable style and generosity of spirit form a legacy that continues to grow through the many works he left behind as well as his expansive sense of community, whether applied to his fellow artists or citizens—all of whom he not only saw, but genuinely wanted to know.