First Love by Michael Godard: Collector's Guide

First Love is a limited edition canvas giclee by Las Vegas pop artist Michael Godard, offered in four editions across two tall sizes (17.5" x 52.5" and 24" x 72") from $1,195 to $2,395, each shipped numbered with a certificate of authenticity and free, fully insured US delivery.

• Artist: Michael Godard, the Las Vegas pop artist known as the "Rockstar of the Art World"
• Medium: limited edition giclee on gallery-wrapped canvas
• Subject: a romantic picnic in a glowing golden forest, with a strawberry pouring wine, a cork collecting flowers, and a 1950s red bicycle
• Editions: four editions: G, Signed & Numbered, Artist's Proof, and Gallery Proof
• Sizes & price: 17.5" x 52.5" and 24" x 72"; $1,195 to $2,395
• Collecting: numbered with a certificate of authenticity; the Signed & Numbered edition is hand-signed; free, fully insured US shipping

About First Love

In Godard's own telling, first love is magical, as is this glowing, golden forest. The couple takes a romantic bike ride to the perfect place for a picnic. In a tiny clearing butterflies fill the air and a squirrel scurries through the branches, while the strawberry pours their wine and the cork wanders the meadow collecting flowers. The red bicycle dates back to the 1950s, and many hearts are hidden in the oak branches.

The tall format suits a narrow wall or a stairwell, and the piece speaks to fans of wine cellar art and wine and vineyard wall art. If you are ready to start or grow a collection, browse the full range of Michael Godard art for sale.

Editions, sizes & prices of this limited edition giclee

First Love is offered as a limited edition canvas giclee in four editions and two tall sizes, all on gallery-wrapped canvas. The Signed and Numbered edition is hand-signed by the artist and numbered; the G, Artist's Proof, and Gallery Proof editions are individually numbered. The Artist's Proof features a one-color paint embellishment and the Gallery Proof a five-color paint embellishment.

Prices are the current live listing prices. Each edition is a fixed print run, so once an edition sells out, no further prints of that size or type are produced.

Godard's gentler side

First Love combines two of Godard's gentler recurring subjects, flowers and personified strawberry characters, into a single romantic scene, a register quite different from the bar-and-casino energy of his better-known cocktail work. The wine cork in the composition ties the piece back to his wine series even as its mood leans toward innocence and new romance.

About Michael Godard

From draftsman and drummer to "Rockstar of the Art World"

Born in 1963 and later based in Las Vegas, Godard studied at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena and at UNLV, and spent years working as a draftsman and commercial illustrator, and drumming in Las Vegas bands, before painting full time. The turning point was a friend's request for a birthday painting about dirty martinis: he answered with personified, animated olive characters full of attitude, and that became the visual language behind the nickname collectors know him by, the "Rockstar of the Art World."

The signature style

His pop art is instantly recognizable: personified characters, bold saturated color, and theatrical exaggeration with a satirist's sense of timing. First Love applies that same craft to its own subject, exactly what you see in this piece.

Beyond the canvas, and giving back

His book Don't Drink and Draw, with a foreword by friend and collector Ozzy Osbourne, was named an Art Book of the Year in 2006. Since 2006, following the loss of his daughter Paige to brain cancer at 16, the artist has maintained an ongoing charitable relationship with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and related causes. For the complete story, read the full artist biography.

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