Auctions – Page 6 – Vandalog

January 30, 2010

London’s February auctions

On February 11th-13th, Sotheby’s Christie’s and Phillips de Pury will all have auctions in London which include a fair amount of street art. Here’s a selection of most of that work.

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction. February 11th, from 2pm.

Lot 230: Untitled by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Estimated £70-90,000
RJ’s thoughts – Meh. It’s an okay sketch. For the £70,000 estimate, wouldn’t you rather have a kickass José Parlá?
Lot 233: Kate Moss by Banksy. Estimated £25-35,000
RJ’s thoughts – I’m not a fan of the Kate Moss prints, but I seem to be the only one in the world who isn’t. Also, how cool is it that Sotheby’s gets the joke has lots 232 and 234 are both by Warhol?
Lot 284: Bomb Hugger by Banksy. Estimated £25-35,000
RJ’s thoughts – Usually I don’t like the poorly executed original works that Banksy made around this time, but this one I love for some reason.
Lot 285: Amoured Car by Banksy. Estimated £25-35,000
RJ’s thoughts – Pretty much the same as my thoughts on Bomb Hugger, except that the reason I like this piece is the title.

Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction. February 12th.

Lot 269: Untitled (Robots Amaze) by Barry McGee. Estimated £30-40,000
Elisa’s thoughts – Both this piece and Lot 271 could be tough sells as they are not “typical” McGee works, plus they’re installations, but this one is certainly fun. It’s not for me, but I have to admit that it’s a cool piece to observe in person – it has that eerie aura to it that all animatronics have. But how does one get the tag on the wall? Does Barry come over and do it for you himself? That would be cool. Otherwise, how does the piece work? I’ll also add that it is interesting to see both this lot and Untitled (Car Boot) at auction – whether you like the work or not, it shows the wider art world that Barry’s scope is greater than his gorgeous trademark clusters and individual portrait pieces.
RJ’s thoughts – From what I hear, the piece doesn’t come with the “Amaze” tag, and if you want one, you have to paint it yourself. That is so disappointing. This will only sell to a museum or somebody who wants to donate it to a museum, if it sells at all.
Lot 270: You Told That Joke Twice by Banksy. Estimated £100-150,000
Elisa’s thoughts – This is a strong, intelligent piece from Banksy. The estimate is high, considering the market, but it’s a big piece and I hope it performs well as it shows Banksy off at his best. I love it.
RJ’s thoughts – Yeah it’s a high estimate, but as Elisa says, it’s quite a big painting. And it’s one of my all time favorite Banksy’s. Definitely one of his strongest works. And in terms of the art market, it definitely helps that this piece was in Banksy’s book “Wall and Piece” and that it’s a total one-off.
Lot 271: Untitled (Car Boot) by Barry McGee. Estimated £15-20,000
Elisa’s thoughts – This works as a cool installation piece within a larger exhibition context and links to the great larger car installations Barry is known for, but on its own it looks a bit dead and pretentious. It should go to a museum, some other kind of institution, or else a McGee fanatic who owns hundreds of pieces and can put lots of other work around it to give it the life it deserves.
RJ’s thoughts – I think that a museum could do better, maybe will a full car, but a really ambitious collector with some McGee clusters already could make this piece the centerpiece of their collection.

Phillips de Pury Evening Sale: Contemporary Art. February 13th.

Lot 18: Cash Crop by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Estimated £600-900,000
Elisa’s thoughts – This is an interesting piece because it reflects an important period in Basquiat’s history. It’s a very introspective, personal piece, which makes for a tension that appeals to me, but it’s not his strongest work.
RJ’s thoughts – Agreed, it’s not his strongest work. I wouldn’t care if this was on my wall or not, except for the fact that it was painted by Basquiat. “Year of the Boar” sold at Phillips de Pury back in October for £1.1 million, and that painting looked 10x better to me.
Lot 19: Vandalised oil #001 by Banksy. Estimated £60-80,000
Elisa’s thoughts – This is an iconic crude oil from Banksy. If you’re a fan of Banksy and like this series, I say go for it.
RJ’s thoughts – Pricing for Banksy’s crude oils can be so screwy that it’s nearly impossible to know what a fair market price is, but this is definitely one of the better ones.

Phillips de Pury Day Sale: Contemporary Art. February 13th.

Lot 138: Two works – Untitled by Kaws. Estimated £10-15,000
Elisa’s thoughts – In my opinion, there is no artistic merit in works like these. The estimate is about right, but it’s beyond me why someone would pay that for them.
RJ’s thoughts – I’m not a Kaws collector, but we all know one (or are one). For Kaws fanatics, these two pieces would be great additions to a collection. But yeah, otherwise, who else cares? They’re just his skulls by themselves. It’s more like buying a Nike logo, not an OBEY Giant poster.

RJ’s final thoughts – Overall, wow. Maybe not all of these pieces are amazing, but the artists are all top-tier. There are no unproven street artists in these sales.

January 28, 2010

Brooklynite Gallery fundraiser for Haiti

From the Brooklynite Gallery:

We’d like to thank:

C215
BEEJOIR
MISS BUGS
EELUS
GUY DENNING
K-GUY

For STEPPING UP and taking part in an auction we are having to raise funds for an orphanage in Haiti.The orphanage is called: CHANCES 4 CHILDREN

100% of the PROCEEDS WILL GO TO THE ORPHANAGE.
CHECKS / CHARGES WILL BE MADE DIRECTLY TO THE CHARITY.

We at the BROOKLYNITE have an indirect link to this organization through very good friends of ours who were in the process of adopting two children when the earthquake hit. The orphanage is running out of resources. We want to get funds and supplies directly to them.

CHECK OUT THEIR STORY ON CNN

Or read their story here.

The Miss Bugs and C215 auctions have already ended, but the rest end at 12 noon Eastern time on Monday. You can check out the artwork and bid on flickr.

October 28, 2009

Juxtapoz have put together a stunning line up for their online charity art auction. Over 100 artists including Swoon, Ron English, Josh Keyes, Anthony Lister and Mudwig. The bidding starts today and runs until November 20th on Charitybuzz.com.

And the whole thing is of course a charity auction:

Proceeds from “The Big Payback” auction will support the goal of purchasing five homes and employing local Detroit contractors, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters to perform the renovations. Selected artists will also be invited to participate in the remodeling. The event aims to raise the consciousness of both the problems of people disenfranchised by the nation’s economic crisis, as well as encourage a sense of community in the art world and inspire people to effect positive social change in their own communities.

September 24, 2009

Phillips de Pury NOW sale

On Tuesday night I went to the preview of Phillips de Pury’s latest auction, Now: Art of the 21st Century, which will occur on Saturday. Overall, I was impressed with what I saw, and it is a great example of how important it is to view work in person and not judge things by their jpegs. Unfortunately this is a website and I can’t fly all of Vandalog’s readers to London, so jpegs will have to do for this post. This auction is a really solid sale all around, but since this is a street art blog, I’m just going to focus on a few pieces today.

This series of prints from Barry McGee (lot 170) is probably my favorite piece in the auction from a street artist. They are APs from an edition of 25. The set of 10 includes screenprints, aquatints and etches. This series would be a perfect introduction to Barry McGee’s work, beacuse it is varied and includes many of his best known characters. The best part is that some of these actually look like originals. Unfortunately, they are estimated at £6000-8000, and after tacking on the auction house fees and all that, you might as well look for a deal on an original McGee cluster for a similar price.

McGee dePury

Judith Supine (lot 177) is one of the few street artists who has never really flooded the market with his work. While you can buy Faile originals on eBay these days, I was suprised to see an original by Supine at auction (though, this particular piece has actually floated around quite a bit). While the jpeg may not look all that impressive, this piece in person is really something else. All three of his pieces at FAME Festival sold quickly, and he hasn’t shown in London recently (and I don’t think he plans to), so if the right buyers spot this piece, I think it could go for more than the £3500-4500 estimate.

Supine

A Kaws companion (lot 178). This time the collaboration is with Yue Minjun. I’m not a huge Minjun fan, I go back and forth in my opinion of Kaws, and I rarely like toys, but I think I’m the minority on all three of those. Though after seeing it in person it isn’t my taste, it seems like another one of those pieces that could really catch the interest of a couple big collectors because both Kaws and Minjun are extremely important artists. The question is, does their collector base have enough overlap?

Kaws

I’m guessing that with this piece (lot 176) Phillips was hoping to capitalize on Lister’s solo show at New Image Art (opened September 12). Unfortunately, most of what I’ve seen from that show (thanks Arrested Motion) was meh. This painting does look nice in person though.

Lister

All that I really know about Chris Johanson is that he is a Beautiful Loser and not a street artist. I love this painting (lot 172) though. Art that comments on the state of modern art either works or it absolutely does not. This one works (I think).

Johanson

July 13, 2009July 13, 2009

Artnet Urban Art Auction

Artnet.com is having an online urban art auction, which began July 7^th and runs through July 23^rd. The catalogue contains works by many of the major names in the scene, from the 80s through today, such as Dondi, Crash, Haring, Basquiat, Barry McGee, Banksy, Nick Walker, Faile and Shepard Fairey. There are also some strange, albeit nice, inclusions such as Mr. and Jim Houser, as well as some weaker urban choices, but on the whole this auction is definitely worth checking out as there is a good range of pieces in it.

It is also quite well-presented and easy to use; you can either scroll the catalogue page by page or search by artist. The biographical information is nice to have and I like the inclusion of sales results for comparable work – this is particularly handy if you are considering placing a bid.

I have highlighted a few of my personal favorites. Clicking on the image will take you to the lot.

Keith Haring "Luna, Luna, a poetic extravaganza!" 1986

Keith Haring "Untitled (DOG) Oil on Wood" 1983

Jean-Michel Basquiat "Anti-Baseball Card Product" circa 1979

Doze Green "Ancestros Totemic Series: Cuba" 2008

Elisa x

July 1, 2009July 2, 2009

This Week On The Street (July 1 – July 8)

Hey everyone, Elisa here again with my weekly street art calendar. There are some really interesting events going on this week! If you’re in London, please enjoy the Christie’s auction, Black Rat Press show, and Vhils‘ long-awaited Laz solo for me! I’m really jealous!

Wednesday July 1

NY: WK Interact Book Signing and Artist Talk @ Jonathan Levine Gallery, 6-9pm

London: Post War and Contemporary Art Day Auction @ Christie’s, from 2pm

(Before the auction begins, make sure you check out this guide to some of the pieces to watch on Arrested Motion)

Thursday July 2

San Francisco: Word To Mother @ Fifty24SF Gallery, 7-9:30pm

London: Swoon, Matt Small, Brian Adam Douglas @ Black Rat Press

London: Summer Group Show @ Stolenspace Gallery, 6-9pm

Friday July 3

London: Vhils @ Lazarides Gallery, Rathbone Place

Saturday July 4

Paris: Choque Cultural Group Show @ Galerie LJ Beaubourg, from 7pm

Paris: Jonone Solo & Book Signing @ Galerie Magna Danysz, 6-9pm

Sao Paulo: Alex Hornest @ Galeria Thomas Cohn, 12-3pm

Sao Paulo: Group Show @ Choque Cultural, from 4pm

Sunday July 5

Berlin: Urban Affairs – Contemporary Urban Art and Street Art Festival

This is only a sample of what is on, so if you know of anything you think should be added, please email me at elisa @ carmichaelgallery.com. Thanks!

June 25, 2009June 25, 2009

This Week on the Street (June 25 – July 1)

Forgot to introduce myself with my first guest post. My name is Elisa Carmichael and I co-own and run Carmichael Gallery in LA. Over the next few weeks I’m going to be providing a weekly mini calendar of street art-related events opening around the world, plus little updates on things I hear about in the art world.

Here is a taste of what’s coming up this week. If you know of anything else that’s going on, please email me at elisa (at) carmichaelgallery.com and I will add it to the list. Thanks!

Thursday June 25

NY: Aakash Nihalani, Cui Fei, Minette Margahas @ Arario Gallery, 6-8pm

Friday June 26

NY: Gaia and Imminent Disaster @ Ad Hoc Art, 7-10pm

NY: Plenty Of Room On The Couch @ Eastern District, from 7pm

NY: Fundraiser for India Street Mural Project @ Gallery 1889, 7-11pm

NY: Visual Slang 2009: The Modern Urban Imagination @ Abrons Arts Center, 6-8pm

AZ: David Choong Lee @ Joseph Cross Gallery, 5-7pm

London: 25^th Anniversary of Subway Art @ Black Rat Press, 7-9pm

Bristol: Urban Art Auction @ View Gallery, from 6:30pm

Stuttgart: Case, Satone, Smash137 @ Galerie ABTart, from 8pm

Vienna: Connect 4 @ INOPERAbLE, the Sixxa Store and the Street Art Passage in the Museums Quartier, from 7pm (continues Sat June 27)

Sat June 27

LA: Park Life: The New Utopia @ Subliminal Projects, 8-11pm

NY: WK Interact and Invader @ Jonathan Levine Gallery, 7-9pm

Mon June 29

Paris: Street Art Auction @ Art Curial, from 2:30pm

June 14, 2009

Banksy at Sotheby’s

With the recession, we’ve seen an end to those “Urban Art Auctions” at Bonhams and Dreweatts which seemed cool but a bit let they were secluding Urban Art away from the the rest of the art world. Now, urban/street art is appearing more in Contemporary Art auctions, which, I think, is a good sign for the future of the genre.

That’s why I was excited to see this iconic Banksy canvas in Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Auction on the 26th of June in London.

Of course, a lot of Banksy work has gone unsold in auctions lately. Hopefully Banksy’s Bristol show will pique interest in this piece. I’d love to see some more street art get strong prices at a contemporary auction, and this could be Banksy’s chance.

March 17, 2009

Phillips de Pury Results

Just a quick run through of Saturday’s Phillips de Pury auction results (all prices include buyer’s premium).

Herakut’s canvas for the War Child charity went for £3750.
Only one Paul Insect piece managed, to sell (a print at £375).
Seen was quite strong, with a large painting on subway maps selling for £4000.
Out of 2 prints and 1 original by BAST, only one print sold and it was at below estimate (and that original was really nice in person, even if it isn’t his typical style).
None of the Faile prints or originals sold.
Nick Walker’s Moona Lisa, which was estimated at £7-9000, sold for £18,750. Seems like a bit of a fluke though, as the rest of Walker’s work was within the estimate.
The Swoon on Mylar was withdrawn
Finally, as I anticipated, the two Os Gêmeos giant head boxes sold for more than the estimate of £4-6000, but they sold A LOT more: £18125 including the premium.

For the full results a pdf can be downloaded here.

March 13, 2009March 13, 2009

Phillips Update: Swoon Piece Withdrawn

Looks like lot 393 at tomorrow’s Phillips de Pury auction may have been withdrawn, as the Phillips’ website has removed the lot’s estimate within the past few hours. That lot number is the beautiful Swoon on Mylar that everybody has been talking about. The work had been listed with an extremely low estimate of only £2,000-£3,000 and no reserve. Can you say 11th hour? I guess we’ll know for sure tomorrow though.

Category: Auctions