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Sweet Talk

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The Print Series

baechler candy print

Donald Baechler, Untitled, 2012.

The feast of Saint Valentine approaches. Chain pharmacies across the land are hawking impossibly bright conversation hearts and Russell Stover samplers, full of unwanted marzipan. Given such lackluster options, you’re probably wondering: What should you give your sweetheart?

We humbly aver that our print by Donald Baechler, with its honeyed candy, is the most compelling Valentine’s Day gift around. It’s better than songs about candy, better than overexposed Ogden Nash quotations about candy, and, dare we say, better than candy itself. It’s nonperishable, for one thing. It’s also extremely good-looking—as is your sweetheart, presumably.

Since 1964, The Paris Review has commissioned a series of prints and posters by major contemporary artists. Contributing artists have included Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Bourgeois, Ed Ruscha, and William Bailey. Each print is published in an edition of sixty to two hundred, most of them signed and numbered by the artist. All have been made especially and exclusively for The Paris Review.

Donald Baechler’s print, from 2012, is available for purchase here. Proceeds go to The Paris Review Foundation, established in 2000 to support The Paris Review. And yes, we will be your valentine.