Auction  September 27, 2018  Megan D Robinson

Phillips New Now Auction Achieves $6.4 Million

Courtesy Phillips

Yayoi Kusama, Butterfly, titled and dated "Butterfly [in Japanese] 1982 Yayoi Kusama" on the reverse, acrylic on canvas. Painted in 1982, this work is accompanied by a registration card issued by the Yayoi Kusama studio. Estimate: $180,000 - 250,000. Price realized: $375,000.

Courtesy Phillips

KAWS, Untitled, 2014, signed and dated "KAWS .. 14" on the reverse, acrylic on canvas. Estimate: $100,000 - 150,000. Price realized: $200,000.

Phillips New Now auction proved itself to be a staple of the auction calendar this week, mixing work by emerging and established artists in a successful sale. Highlights included works by Yayoi Kusama, George Condo, KAWS, and Cindy Sherman, among others. With over 250 lots offered, the auction expected to realize over $5 million, and made $6.4 million. Bidders from over forty countries drove prices up, leading to record-breaking sales.

The top sale was Yayoi Kusama’s Butterfly, which sold for $375,00, more than double its low estimate. Works by KAWS did extremely well. An untitled canvas piece sold for $200,000, double its low estimate of $100,000. His four-foot Companions series were extremely popular, selling for easily double or triple the lowest estimated. One Companion set a new record, selling for $150,000 against an estimate of $25,000.

Courtesy Phillips

John Baldessari, Figure (With Money) and Knife Thrower (With Blue Blindfold), 1990, vinyl and acrylic on chromogenic print, in 2 parts. Estimate: $150,000 - 200,000. Price realized: $162,500.

Courtesy Phillips

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #201, 1989, this work is number 4 from an edition of 6, chromogenic print, in artist's frame. Estimate: $150,000 - 200,000. Price realized: $187,500.

 

Cuban artists had a strong showing, setting three of the nine record-breaking sales. Yoan Capote’s Palangre (muro de mar II), which previously sold for $42,500, sold for $43,750. Raúl MartÍnez’s El abanderado (The Standard-Bearer), 1970, estimated at $3,000-5,000, sold for $5,625, beating MartÍnez’s 2006 record sale of $3,956. Printmaker Belkis Ayón’s Untitled (Sikan with white Tips), 1993, estimated at $3,000-5,000, sold for $47,500, beating Ayón’s previous record sale of $22,500.

Other notable sales included Emily Mae Smith’s Hand to Mouth, which sold for $32,500, beat her earlier personal sale record of $11,250. Beauford Delaney’s Untitled, 1965, set a world record for an Abstract Work by the Artist and Second Highest Price Achieved at Auction for the Artist, selling for $150,000. Beverly Pepper’s Ligne Scolpite II, 1968, estimated at $25,000-35,000, sold for $93,750, beating Pepper’s 2005 record sale of $72,000.

About the Author

Megan D Robinson

Megan D Robinson writes for Art & Object and the Iowa Source.

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