Swoon for sale (AGAIN) at Phillips de Pury

Posted: June 24th, 2010 | Author: RJ | Category: Auctions | Tags: swoon | 12 Comments »

Looks like this piece by Swoon is finally going to hit the auction block at Phillips de Pury next week. Last March, the exact same artwork was pulled from an auction there less than 24 hours before it was due to be sold. For that first auction, PdP had estimated the artwork at just £2,000-3,000, a shockingly low number. This time though, the piece is being estimated at £10,000-15,000, which is pretty much what you would expect.

Photo courtesy of Phillips de Pury

http://Website Dylan

For full disclosure you should mention that your father is one of the biggest collectors of swoon art work around. That may bias your opinion on what a ‘fair’ estimate of the piece is.
http://www.vandalog.com RJ

Good point. Though my dad owns art by a lot of the artists that I write about. Sometimes I diss those artists, sometimes I say nice things.

In this case though, I think it would be difficult to find anybody familiar with Swoon’s prices who would argue that £2,000-3,000 is a reasonable estimate for this piece at auction.
stephanie

I do think this is a bit high for the piece, but it is at auction, so the price will always be on the higher end than in a gallery setting. Yes, it is a great piece, but in the end this auction price will also help raise all of swoon’s prices, so I bet a lot of people are banking on it to go at the estimate. Tobias Meyer is famous for saying that “the best art is the most expensive art.” And I can’t help but agree. But before you all go crazy on my ass, let me explain. The best art breeds discussion, discussion breeds notoriety, notoriety breeds value in art. Swoon has quickly become one of the most well known names in the urban art world, and successfully crossed over into the gallery world making a similar splash. I am not defending RJ’s opinion just because I write for Vandalog, but I have to agree. The high end gallery world, bigger and wealthier collectors, and of course the auction world is an entirely different area of art. Urban/street/low brow art is but a blip on their radar at this point except for a few artists that collectors and such deemed “worthy” and more valuable. I think Swoon is going to become one of those artists that will experience that christening of perceived value by these incredibly wealthy and elite individuals. And to add to my tirade, the more attention artists like Swoon get, the better it is for the urban art market. Money will make urban art a viable career path for more people. I would really like to see round two of the YBA and maybe a crop of crossover urban artists can fill that void that the art world has been waiting for.
stephanie

And to address the comment about RJ’s dad owning a lot of Swoon’s work, I think that is complete crap to call him out on that. The piece is worth discussing for my previous reasons stated. I highly doubt anyone can honestly say that what RJ writes on vandalog is in some way biased towards his father’s art collection. Most gallery owners, writers, auctioneers, consultants, etc. have incredible art collections, most from what an artist gives them and they will promote the artist’s work anyways. There are multiple contributors to this site and we all have artists we like and dislike and we write as such, but we all realize that despite our opinions, some works or artists are worth discussing and writing about.

Prices in urban art range from very little for prints to exorbitant amounts for sculptures or art from well known artists. Dran’s paintings go for 2-3,000 pounds, and last fall a Miss Van original at stolenspace was priced at 17,000 pounds. Just to put things in perspective for everyone. So combining the nature of this piece, Swoon’s usually gallery prices, and the fact that it is at auction (and at Phillips de Pury no less) the estimate makes absolute sense. Art is always priced more at auctions because buyers want the exclusivity of the piece, the prestige of buying at an auction, and want people to know they have the money to spend like that on art. It isn’t about getting a deal. It’s an asset market (for the most part), unless someone is an avid collector, than money is not an issue. Like I said, the auction world is another whole level when it comes to art and is way too complicated to discuss in a blog comment at length.
http://Website mary

I think Dylan’s comment was simply that when making the assessment of what is a “reasonable” estimate for auction you should and could disclose your father as a collector of Swoon. It’s not “calling him out on it” but making known to someone (such as myself) who was not aware of the connection why RJ might generalize in the way he did. Connections/conflicts of interest should always be disclosed. To say that 2,000 is a “shockingly low number” and that 10-15,000 is “what you would expect” makes many assumptions. Perhaps qualifying your generalizations with concrete reasons as to the possible rise in the estimate or giving examples of similar Swoon prices would have been more insightful than stating that you sometimes “diss” artists your father buys.
http://Website Dylan

Yes, i was not ‘calling anyone out’, but when you’re using adverbs like ‘shockingly’ to describe an art piece their may be a bias to your opinion.

I understand how the art world works, I know people buy their own work at auctions to make it seem like there’s more value to it.

And I think Swoon is great, and I understand auctions drive a premium on price…i just thought the wordage was a bit overstated.
http://Website 12345678

For a group of such young people, most of you who write for this blog sure are conservative in the things you choose to discuss. No hint of rebellion anywhere, just a mainstream snoozefest. You all sound like you’re a bunch of hedge fund managers talking about stocks or property prices at a middle class dinner party. Who would have thought that a supposed street art blog would descend into the online equivalent of a young republicans convention. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
http://Website Dylan

so what did this sell for?
http://www.vandalog.com RJ

£12,500
http://Website Simon Durban

Shockingly low!
xam

Yeah they should have sold it through a gift shop to get a higher price….
xam

Yeah they should have sold it through a gift shop to get a higher price….

Swoon for sale (AGAIN) at Phillips de Pury

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