Phillips Auction Preview - 13 May

Straight on the subway from Sotheby's to Phillips. They've moved to midtown since I was last here. They used to have a cool meatpacking district location but I guess there's more money in midtown. Which is a good a time as any to get sidetracked with an old banking joke which was 'boutiques are cool in Soho, not in Midtown'. It might only be funny if you worked on Wall Street ...

Anyway Phillips has always been the younger brother to the big two but they appeared to have scored a coup with a big Rothko which was given its own room (actually more like a shrine, see above) at their hq. It didn't really float my boat but hey what do I know - it sold for a tad over $56 million. That it accounted for 43% of Phillips total take tells you that there wasn't any other really massive works. A pretty crazy Koons, tick. A big Hirst spinner, tick. A Warhol Jackie Kennedy, tick. By this stage I was interested in seeing some younger works as this is where Phillips usually differentiates itself so it was down to the basement in the slow elevator. And if that is not enough suspense for you I am going to pause now and take this post back up when I am back in Sydney!

Points: I'll give the 3 to Jeff Koon's Big Bikini (top) which neatly fits in with my penchant for supersized attractions! 2 points to Andres Serrano's Black Jesus (above) although I am sure if push came to shove I would really take the Piss Christ for the sake of its infamy. I will give the 1 point to Mark Ryden, not so much for this work but as a reflection of how much I loved his work when at grad school.

Sotheby's Auction Preview - 13 May

So the art just doesn't stop this week. With Frieze over the Big Collectors will hit the contemporary art auctions. The Big Lamington will join them. Sotheby's is up first.

Wow. Just wow. I've always maintained that NY auction previews are great. Sotheby's is where it was when I used to live here, which is miles from anywhere in the East 70s, although next to the hospital where one of the junior critics was born. So handy if you have a strong reaction to the art! First up all I noticed were the assistants. Lots of them. That is to show that this art is Expensive. This floor was mostly for the night sale, the day sale (& slightly cheaper works) were on another level. Pride of place in the main room was Jeff Koons' Popeye (pic top). This sold for $28 million. So I guess it did justify having its own separate catalogue with an essay comparing it to the marble statues of antiquity like Michaelangelo's David (seriously). I should've taken a selfie like Ja Rule. I actually happened to be there with Ja but didn't actually recognise him. Well I realised he was someone famous given the attention he was getting but not that it was Ja. I'd have clocked Birdman for sure but now we are getting off topic again.  Overall this was as great a contemporary collection as you would see in any gallery, on par and probably better than what's on show in the AGNSW contemporary section (& MCA as well).  There was a whole room of Warhol's and Basquiat's hung together, including a Warhol portrait of Basquiat. There were quite a few Richard Prince's, including Cowboys, girl pictures, nurse paintings and jokes. A nice couple of John Baldessari's. An iconic Pettibon surfer (well maybe just iconic to me!) and a few younger artists like Mickalene Thomas with her signature glitter infused portraits. What great fun poking around. Might've been a bit more fun with a couple of million to spend but I'm not sure I have the wall space! Interestingly I had taken note of Richard Prince's Goat painting (pic above, left). Which is the subject of a great essay he just wrote (link here). 

Points: what can I say? I am a sucker for Richard Prince. A great artist and one I am learning more about through twitter! Seriously, he is the artist king of all social media.  Follow him.  3 for 'Spiritual America 3'. It is a little pervy but that's the point. I'll give 2 to the Untitled Cowboy which was hard to take a photo of due to the reflection of the Kosuth neon opposite. 1 point will go to Baldessari's Prima Facie. I've got a lot more exposure to his work on this trip and it is really growing on me (or just becoming more familiar!).

Firstdraft fundraiser - 20 September

I had hoped to add the label 'new acquisitions' to this post but it wasn't to be on a very busy night at Firstdraft gallery in Surry Hills.  They were hosting their annual fundraising auction and I had tagged along to see what gives.

There were about 70 works kindly donated by artists to the evening.  Firstdraft had planned for live auctions for the big names and silent auction sheets for the balance.  I tiptoed around a packed gallery space and managed to put a few silent auction bids in although I did want to hold back to see how the live items played out.  For the live auction I liked the look of Jonny Niesche's glitter stick and Rochelle Haley's jewel.  Also up (amongst others) were a Philjames, Oliver Watts and Andrew Frost's favourite (aka Tom Polo).  Unluckily for me the Niesche was up first before I had truly got in to the auction spirit and I managed to let this bad boy slip away for a bargain to a lucky punter who looked a lot like the proprietor of the Commercial gallery.  Everyone was getting into the spirit and I recognised a few artists also bidding up big.  Trying to mitigate my disappointment with the live game I had another recce around the silent auction and saw a few great bargains (like Beth Dillon's Institutional Rainbows, top or Emma Thomson's Ray, below) which were all looking like complete bargains for some lucky bidders.  I put down a cheeky bid on a Claudia Nicholson but haven't got the call so must've been pipped at the post by some cheeky sniper (I couldn't stay till the death).  I feel like discouraging everyone from attending in the future but it is all for a good cause so everyone mark it in your diaries or alternatively just follow @first_draft on tweeter.  Be warned, I will be better prepped to bid big early!

Points:  1 point to all the artists who generously donated their works for the event, 2 points for the collectors who opened their wallets in the pursuit of art and 3 to Firstdraft for arranging a great fun night.

The RBS collection at Shapiro - 24 November

So the ongoing shake out in the financial industry has also claimed a corporate collection (and art prize). The former ABN Amro emerging art prize (which was renamed after the Royal Bank of Scotland following a takeover) is no more after RBS sold of most of its Aussie operations to the Malaysian CIMB.  Now Shapiro is selling off their art this Monday night ...

Usually I would tell you to follow the advice of collector Valeria Napoleone, whose quote in the March 2011 issue of Monocle has stuck in my head ... "I don't go to auctions because I don't buy secondhand; I buy directly from the galleries or the artists".  I also prefer to support the artist by buying in the primary market but this would be a great opportunity to pick up some fairly well provenanced works so I am sure there will be solid interest (I am sure it will be closely watched by the auction crowd as there isn't really a secondary market for emerging artists here in contrast to say Philips de Pury in NY).  There was also a pretty decent article on it in the AFR to stir the punters to action.  The RBS collection runs from lot 61 to lot 94 and there were quite a few familiar names, Ah Xian, Michael Zavros, Petrina Hicks etc.  My top pick was definitely Lionel Bawden.  His 'Striated Landscape - Sunset 2004' (pictured top) won him the Emerging Artist Award in 2004.  Here it is estimated for $10-15k.  I just loved how Shapiro has it in a glass box so you can see all around it (and even under it, where you more clearly see the staedtler pencils he uses in these creations).  I don't think there is a lot of this out there so reckon it might do well (if I had the spare cash I think I would break Ms. Napoleone's rules).  Also great was Dane Lovett whose 'Twelve Years' (pictured below) won him the prize in 2010.  I quite like the idea of obsolete technology that he explores, more so because videotapes feature prominently in one of my favourite movies, the investment banking how to - american pyscho!  There was quite a lot of photography, Narelle Autio's Splash won it in 2005, Petrina Hicks' Lambswool won it in 2008 and Helen Pynor's Milk won it in 2009. It will be interesting to see how this prize winning work sells.  I will post back what everything sells for after the auction.

Points:  3 to Lionel.  Great work, and interesting to see how the scale of this piece predates his massive Wynne prize winner later in his career.  This one is also easier to fit in a home situation as well.  2 to Dane Lovett, surprised about the estimate here ($2-3k) given what his newer work sells for in the galleries.  1 to Fiona Lowry.  Nice piece and huge, so pretty good value for money (at an estimate of $4-6k).  Overall it was a pretty decent collection of work, and kind of instructive for those who are also collecting.  Maybe now there is an opening for the Big Lamington Art Prize ...

POST SCRIPT:  Wow.  A solid outing for emerging art.  Those estimates turned out a little conservative ...
Dane Lovett sells for $7,150
Fiona Lowry sells for $11,050 and
Lional Bawden sells for $20,150.

Auction @ Menzies - 24 March

I was interested to see how the secondary market was doing so it was off to Menzies to check it out. On the menu were predominantly 'modern australian' works (50's to 90s) with a handful of contemporary pieces from this century. Fresh in my mind was the following quote of a collector profiled in the March issue of Monocle ... "I research a lot, I go to fairs. I don't go to auctions because I don't buy secondhand. I buy directly from the galleries or the artists." Ouch! I'd have to keep my paddle on my lap.

This would be pretty easy as the only thing I was contemplating bidding on was a Daniel Boyd (King No Beard from 2006 - pictured left, the youngest work they had all night) although I was also interested to see how some of the contemporary artists would fare. I arrived at about lot 30 and they were going slooooow. Interesting crowd although not many under 40. The big sale was a bidding war for the Brett Whitely that graced the cover of the catalogue, eventually being knocked down for $1.56 million. It was a huge piece and admittedly quite stunning but imagine what you could get for that - hey Tim Olsen, I'll take all your shows from now till Chrissy, wrap 'em! The guy next to me got in a bidding war for a Ray Crooke (probably the only older work I would have wanted, and then only because I have a tiki bar to decorate ...) and he just missed out at $33k.

The interesting stuff was towards the back of the night. Alistair McIntyre was one of the first I recognized. There was a little bit of interest and this piece (The Ultimate Challenge from 2004) was knocked down for $4,000. Next was the Daniel Boyd. I was hoping there wouldn't be any bidders as I was only really interested getting a steal. But a couple of interested parties soon pushed it to $11k where it started to slow down and increase in $100 increments. One of the parties was the underbidder from the Whitely, amazingly he didn't win! I mean, bidding $1.5m for Brett and then not putting in another couple of hundred to get Daniel's King? Anyway $12,600 was the winning bid. But that is actually $15,120 with the 22% buyers premium and a little less than $11,000 for the seller - there's the auction house vig for you. Last lot I paid attention to was an early Darren Sylvester piece that was passed in at $7,500 for a set of 4 photos from 1999. It was an interesting night but it did confirm that it wasn't really my scene. A pity as auctions can be quite entertaining and I used to love going to Phillips De Pury when I lived in New York (but they have more of a reputation for auctioning fairly new work). If there is anything that really takes my fancy it will be absentee all the way.

Points, 3 for Brett (I bet Robin Gibson is wishing he hung on to that one); 2 for the Daniel Boyd and 1 for Ray Crooke.