Basquiat Undertakes Phillips Contemporary Sale for $85 Million


Weyant, 27, is represented by her dating mega-seller Larry Gagosian. Evoking the psychological complexities of being a young woman in the 21st century with the technical precision of a 17th-century Elder Master, Weyant’s paintings are now at the top of many collectors’ wish lists.

(Christie’s example last week $1.5 million to an Asian bidder. Phillips’ Weyant, a meticulous still life from 2021 called “The Buffet II,” grossed $731,000. It was estimated to be between $100,000-150,000.)

Experts say the current large differences between “primary market” prices at galleries and “secondary market” auction resales of works by sought-after artists are fueled by the global influx of wealthy young collectors following the careers of artists, particularly in Asia. Names that are rising on Instagram but have no way of getting ahead of dealers’ waiting lists. Bidding at the auction gives them access to the names they want, even if that means paying them what seems like irrational prices to outsiders.

“There’s a new generation of collectors who can’t afford a $50 million Picasso but can spend $5 million on a young artist they think will stand the test of time,” said Wendy Cromwell, New York-based art consultant. Cromwell added that before the artist was represented with Blum & Poe, he purchased Weyant paintings from other galleries for less than $30,000.

Because social media is an echo chamber, auction buyers tend to follow the same names of the moment. Like Phillips, Christie’s, and Sotheby’s, it also included hard-to-get works by Shara Hughes, Matthew Wong, and María Berrío. “Dark Spots, Not Darkness,” the typically dreamy landscapes Hughes shot in 2017, received $1.6 million after a seven-minute contest. It carried an estimate of as low as $300,000. An exuberant, large-scale collage by New York-based Colombian artist Berrío has raised $998,000. A vision of centennial women lounging in an interior filled with flowers and bunnies, “Yellow Burrows” had a 2013 low estimate of $400,000.

One of the newcomers to watch was Brooklyn-based female figurative painter Robin F. Williams, who has 108,000 followers on Instagram but whose work has so far not sold for more than $40,000 at auction.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *