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Category Archives: Auctions

Update: Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Sale Results

Yesterday’s Contemporary Day Sale (previewed) at Sotheby’s in London only had a few lots that AM was closely watching, but the results are a good sign for the overall market. In particular, Faile received a much needed boost with their large canvas “New York City 02” (Lot # 169) selling right in the middle of the estimate for 49,250 GBP and the smaller “NYC Butterfly Girl” on wood (Lot # 168) selling for 16,250 GBP, well over the 12,000 GBP high estimate. Faile has not […]

Auctions: Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Auction (London)

This Friday, June 26th, Sotheby’s (London) will be holding their prestigious Contemporary Day Auction with some amazing works from the top of the Contemporary Art food chain. As one of the top auction houses in the world, we come to expect the usual suspects such as: Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Yue Minjun, Takashi Murakami, Zhang Xiaogang and Richard Prince. A pleasant trend we wanted to note is Sotheby’s inclusion of urban art notables such as Banksy, Faile and Ryan McGinness in this auction. It’s interesting to […]

Auction: Street Art @ Art Curial (Paris)

Well below the radar for most American and UK collectors, Art Curial in Paris have been putting together stronger and stronger offerings in the Graffiti, Street and Urban Art arena. After the 1980’s “graffiti in art galeries” boom died in the USA, many of the artists continued to do well in continental Europe and we are seeing some classic pieces show up in auctions like the one coming up on June 29th. There is a strong selection from 80’s NYC Graff Artists like Crash, Daze, […]

Auctions: “Vision 21” @ Bonhams London

AM continues to look at the upcoming auctions with a review of the July 1st Vision 21 auction at Bonhams in London. Generally a grab bag of post war and contemporary art and design items, the auction is of particular interest to us this season as Bonhams has stuck a small selection of “Urban Art” in the back of the catalog. There is also a nice little Murakami sculpture that would be fun to own, some cool mid-century furniture and Warhol prints. Seems like it […]

Preview: Phillips de Pury Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Phillips de Pury has published the catalog for their upcoming London Contemporary Art Evening Sale and there are a few pieces AM would love to see in our collection. Of most significance is the inclusion of a classic montage piece by Barry McGee. McGee has traditionally not performed very well at auction, but long term, we all know he is one of the most important American artists working today and his inclusion in an evening art sale is a real testament to this. It’s worth […]

Openings: Poketo Benefit and Art Auction – “F%#K Cancer! We Love Justin.”

AM was in attendance at the “F%#k Cancer! We Love Justin” silent art auction held at Poketo studios. You may not recognize Justin VanHoy’s name, but you’ve undoubtedly seen the work he’s done as art director of Swindle and his contributions to Obey Clothing, Cobra Snake and Wired Magazine. All proceeds from the event went directly to support Justin’s recovery from a successful bone marrow transplant after a relapse of lukemia. The big contributor of the evening was Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Paul Weitz, who went […]

Street Art Shows Strong @ Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Auction

We heard a rumor that the economy is not well and the art market is hurting. Apparently, the folks attending Sotheby’s Contemporary Day auction don’t agree. Today’s sale yielded solid results, with 337 lots pulling in over 21.5 million USD. Among the amazing lineup of artists, such as Warhol, Basquiat, Kippenberger and Cy Twombly, AM noted the inclusion of two iconic names from the “Urban Art” genre: Shepard Fairey and Banksy. More after the jump…

Preview: Saturday @ Phillips NYC

Last night, Phillips De Pury in New York City held a special preview of the lots from their Saturday sale coming up this weekend. AM loves Saturday @ Phillips because of its increased accessibility compared with other higher-end contemporary auctions, which are typically held on mid-week afternoons and evenings, making them difficult for most working people to attend. In addition, Phillips Saturday sales are known for a wide range of items, including a great selection of urban, street and other emerging art, as well as […]

Paintings of a Madman – Adolf Hitler Auction

We recently found out that one world leader’s (Vladamir Putin) painting was worth $1.1 million. Now, another more infamous and more dead former leader’s paintings will be up for auction – Hitler’s. This set of 13 paintings set to go under the hammer next month are expected to sell for a lot less, one of which is seen above. The self portrait of the Nazi leader seen above is signed with the initials A.H. This lot of paintings were from the time when a younger […]

New Banksy @ NNLS Charity Auction

Banksy is at it again. This time, he’s created a new piece to be auctioned off for another charity event. The NNLS auction is actually an “undies” auction where celebrities literally donate their “bottoms” to raise money for the charity at hand. Sir Banksy managed to find another creative way to donate undies to the cause without revealing his waist size by remixing his “Very Little Helps” image that he revealed last year at POW’s Open Day (covered).  He used a stencil of “Union Jack” […]